Edinburgh Sucks! | Council loses big-time in Court of Session

City Council

Council loses big-time in Court of Session

By The Basa ⋅ March 26, 2007 ⋅

Fortunes could well be lost in what a lot of people think is the current illegal transferring of Taxi Plates at prices in excess of Â£50.000.

The decision in the council appeal against Dawn Salteri, JackÂ Stewart and Nicolas Forsyth was fundamentally toÂ enable the councilÂ to continue to restrict black taxi licences and intimidate members of the public with court action.Â However, it has come to a screaming halt when Lord Johnston, appeal judge of the Court of Session delivered the refusal of the City of Edinburgh Council’s appeal to extend the time for consideration of taxi licences in three cases.Â

This means the licences are automatically granted and that the council is defeated.

Item 17 of the judgement stresses “In our opinion this approach is totally flawed having regard to the terms of the legislation. The entitlement of the authority to seek an extension of the period an application to the sheriff should be regarded as a relief to be exercised only in exceptional circumstances.”

The council’s policy has been to dilly dally to suit its own policies of restriction and refusing licences.Â It has played fast and loose with the Law and they’ve been found out.

One taxi business insider told us over the weekend “The council have for years claimed that the lack of applications showed there was no demand for licences while Corporate Services staff were actively discouraging applications by telling those interested that no licences would be issued and suggesting they contact ITS/Mark Greenhalgh/Cabtivate to buy one.Â This, while the council knew that the Act prohibits such licence transfers.”

Originally 41 licences were applied for but most of the people withdrew the applications when the council threatened the applicants with court action.Â We are now at the stage where the remainder of the original 41 licence applications need to be reconsidered according to the circumstances at the time of application.Â Â TheseÂ applications should therefore be granted if they go back in.

With the council saying that there is no demand for licences but at the same time giving the council-owned company Lothian Buses the freedom to run their own ‘taxi’ system and also handing out hundreds and hundred of Private Hire licences seems to us to be extremely contridactory.

The council have played a dirty game here.Â We are told it has done so on the advice of Jim Inch, Corporate Services Director, who has advised them all along.Â Rather than adhere to the Law, Inch’s strategy has always been to do whatever he could get away with to deny licences.Â He has ignored both the terms and spirit of the Act knowing that any challenge to him could only come through the courts, a prohibitively expensive process which has hitherto restricted any opposition to his actions.Â Indeed the verdict notes that the defendants were not represented by counsel through out this whole process, having to depend on a statement of facts prepared on their behalf by a trade legal adviser from Manchester.Â The council was effectively shadow boxing and the shadow has knocked it out.

It should be noted that the council has received this bloody nose despite coercing the applicants.Â The council sent a letter to them at the first appeal stage to inform them that if they appeared in court to speak to the case on their own behalf, or if they were represented by counsel to do so, they would bear the costs of the case in the event of a council victory.Â This was a clear attempt to intimidate and weaken opposition to the council’s position.

The decision which came down late on Friday can be found here: http://www.bailii.org/scot/cases/ScotCS/2007/CSIH_22.html.

The big question now to be answered by the council is how much of tax-payers money has the council paid in trying to defend the indefensible through a court case and two appeals.Â Maybe a FOI application is warranted.