Contract
R (on the application of United Trade Action Group Ltd) v Transport for London and another [2022] EWCA Civ 1026, [2022] All ER (D) 113 (Jul)
The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the appellant United Trade Action Group Ltd’s (UTAG’s) appeal against the decision of the Divisional Court on the plying for hire issue. The appellant, a trade association for drivers of taxis (black cabs) challenged the lawfulness of the decision of Transport for London (TfL) to grant to the second respondent, who was a licensed operator of private hire vehicles (PHVs) which could be booked by prospective passengers using a smartphone app, a London PHV operator’s licence. The appellant argued that in both Reading BC v Ali [2019] 1 WLR 2635 and the present case the Divisional Court erred in holding that London PHV drivers working from the app were not plying for hire. The court held, among other things, that plying for hire required a vehicle to be not just exhibited or on view but, while exhibited, to be soliciting custom in the sense of inviting members
