Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what safeguards are in place to ensure that private hire vehicle operators remain responsible for journeys sub-contracted to other licensed operators across licensing authority boundaries.

Andrew Jones

Whilst private hire vehicle operators have the freedom to subcontract bookings, the operator that originally accepted a sub-contracted booking remains ultimately responsible for that booking.

Both the initial operator who accepts the booking and the operator who fulfils the booking by providing a driver and vehicle are under a duty to keep records of the booking. The relevant enforcement authorities are able to check those records.

All bookings, including those subcontracted, have to be fulfilled by operators, drivers and vehicles all of whom have been licensed by their local authority.