Who can drive a Hackney Carriage?
A hackney carriage must be driven by a driver who holds a hackney carriage driver’s licence….They can:
- carry passengers for hire or reward.
- be hailed by prospective passengers in the street.
- park on a rank to await the approach of passengers.
Can a Hackney Carriage refuse a fare?
A driver of a taxi (or hackney carriage) can only refuse to carry passengers within a controlled district if he has reasonable excuse to do so. In reference to the coronavirus, what is certain is that fares cannot be refused simply based on the nationality or ethnicity of a passenger.
What is the difference between private hire and hackney carriages?
Taxis are hackney carriages and are licensed to pick people up from the roadside, i.e. hailing a cab. Private hire vehicles are only permitted to pick up pre arranged bookings and are not permitted to pick people up from the side of the road.
Can a Hackney Carriage work as a private hire?
Private hire vehicles cannot be hailed or flagged down. Hackney carriages can undertake pre-booked work. Private hire vehicles can only undertake pre-booked work through a licensed operator. Hackney carriages can undertake contract work.
Why is it called Hackney carriage?
Although the origins of the term ‘Hackney coach’ is unclear, historians suggest that it derives from the French word hacquenée, which roughly translates as a horse suitable for hire. The first Hackney coaches – large and luxuriously trimmed horse-drawn carriages – appeared during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1.
Can private hire use taxi rank?
Private hire vehicles are family sized vehicles and minibuses which carry up to eight passengers. They: cannot be hailed in the street. cannot use taxi ranks.
Can a Hackney Carriage work for Uber?
Hackney carriages are only allowed to pick people from the roadside, either being flagged down or from a taxi rank. Private hire taxis, such as Uber taxis, can only legally collect passengers who have pre-booked in some capacity.
Why is it called a hackney carriage?
The term ‘hackney’, as used in hackney coaches and cabs comes from the Norman French word “hacquenée”, meaning a horse for hire. Hackney coaches first appeared in London in Tudor times, when wealthy people who owned coaches hired them out to recoup some of the high cost of keeping them.
Why are black cabs called Hackney cabs?
Taxis in the city of London were initially called hackneys. The word itself came from “hacquenee” a Norman French word, which was used to mean a horse could be hired. In fact, the term is still there today, most people, especially the older generation, always call the taxis hackney cabs.
