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Dear Mr Rose

RE: Private Hire Operators In Venues

Thank you for your email of 29 July 2010. Firstly, can I assure you that
the action take to suspend the issue of further private hire operator
licenses in venues such as nightclubs from 1 June is an interim measure
until such time as a full review can be undertaken. Can I also assure you
that this action was not taken lightly or in response to demonstrations by
taxi drivers but as a result the significant number of licenses issued to
date and as well as on issues with touting activity from some venues.
Whilst I would agree that the Police have done a good job working with my
team cracking down on such issues we jointly agreed that it was
appropriate to "take stock" and review the position.

There are many operations already working very well in late night venues,
bars and nightclubs. However the current arrangements also allow
operations in venues such as cafe's, newsagents, off licenses etc which do
little to enhance the service to (or safety of) the public and are often
linked with persistent touting activity. This is clearly a key issue we
would like to review which is why we decided to suspend the issue of
further licenses until a review can be undertaken in consultation with the
private hire and taxi trade.

We will do all we can to conclude this review as quickly as possible and
expect to start the consultation very shortly. In the meantime we are
happy to consider any applications in exceptional circumstances which
there is a clear need, supported by the Local Police that such an
operation is vital for the area.

I hope this answers your questions, please do not hesitate to contact me
if you require further information.

John Mason
Director - Taxi & Private Hire
4th Floor Yellow
Palestra
197 Blackfriars Road. London. SE1 8NJ

Tel: 020 3054 1537
[mobile number]

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Dear Mr Rose,

Thank you for your request for information regarding the upcoming private
hire consultation. Your request has been considered under the requirements
of the Freedom of Information Act.

The private hire consultation document is still being finalised and the
list of consultees has not been prepared yet however, I expect the
consultation document will be made available on our website at
[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/businessandpartner...
so anyone can submit a response to this consultation and if you would like
to respond to the consultation once it is published then please send any
comments to our office.

Your right to appeal

If you are dissatisfied with the way TfL has handled your information
request, you can ask us to conduct an internal review of our decision. The
internal review will be conducted by someone who was not involved in the
processing of your original request, in accordance with the complaints
procedure published on our website at [2]www.tfl.gov.uk/foi.

Requests for internal review should be addressed to:

Head of Information Access and Compliance

Floor 5, Windsor House

42-50 Victoria Street

London

SW1H 0TL

E-mail: [3][email address]

Complaints to the Information Commissioner

If, following the internal review, you remain dissatisfied with the way
TfL has handled your request, then you can take your complaint to:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

A complaint form is available on the Information Commissioner's Office
website at: [4]www.ico.gov.uk

If you have any questions regarding this then please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Regards

Darren Crowson

Information & Marketing Manager
Transport for London - Taxi and Private Hire

Palestra, 197 Blackfriars Road

4^th Floor - Yellow Zone (4Y7)

Southwark, London

SE1 8NJ

Tel: 020 3054 2945 (internal 82945)

Fax: 020 3054 2007

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/businessandpartner...
2. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/foi
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Rose,

Thank you for your email and I apologise for the delay in my response.

The two main exceptional circumstances we refer to are; (1) a
recommendation from the police supporting the application due to
transportation issues for the customers late at night and (2) where the
premise has a licensing condition from the local authority in that it must
make provision for its customers to have access to transportation late at
night.

We would, on a 'ad hoc' basis review an application that may have a unique
situation supporting it.

I hope this answers your question, please do not hesitate to contact me if
you require further information.

Regards

John Mason Taxi and Private Hire Director

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