CROSS-BORDER WORKING: How a national ‘Intended Use Policy’ could help enforce the triple lock rule
- Perry Richardson
- 17 minutes ago
- 4 min read
The Triple Lock rule has long been the foundation of private hire licensing in England and Wales, requiring that a private hire driver’s badge, vehicle plate, and operator’s licence must all be issued by the same licensing authority. However, widespread cross- order hiring has led to concerns about regulatory oversight and local enforcement. This is where Intended Use Policies (IUPs) have been discussed and could come into play.
An Intended Use Policy is designed to stop the deliberate licensing of private hire vehicles in one council area while predominantly working in another. Councils that implement an IUP would require licence applicants to declare where their vehicle will be primarily operated. If a vehicle is found to be predominantly working outside its licensing area, the council has the power to revoke its licence.
HOW INTENDED USE POLICIES FIT WITH THE TRIPLE LOCK RULE
The Triple Lock Rule ensures that a driver, vehicle, and operator must all be licensed by the same authority, making any private hire booking legal.
However, this system does not prevent drivers and vehicles from operating in different licensing areas once legally licensed. An Intended Use Policy aims to reinforce local licensing control by ensuring that vehicles and drivers primarily operate in the area where they are licensed.
While the Triple Lock ensures regulatory consistency within an individual council, it does not prevent Predominant Out of Area Hiring, where vehicles licensed in one area deliberately work in another. IUPs could close this loophole by making it a condition of licensing that vehicles and operators must primarily work in their home council area.
CROSS-BORDER HIRING AND ITS CONTROVERSIES
Cross-border hiring—the practice of private hire drivers working in areas outside their licensing authority—has long been a feature of the industry. Traditionally, this allowed drivers to complete long- distance journeys legally, such as picking up a return fare from a distant drop-off point. However, in recent years, the system has been exploited by drivers and operators who obtain licences from councils with possibly lower standards or faster licensing processes and then operate almost entirely elsewhere.
This has led to a loss of local licensing control, where councils struggle to regulate vehicles and drivers operating in their area but licensed elsewhere. Local enforcement officers have no jurisdiction over out-of-town private hire vehicles, leading to concerns about public safety, insurance compliance, and vehicle standards.
THE IMPACT OF CROSS-BORDER HIRING ON LOCAL LICENSING
One of the biggest concerns surrounding cross-border hiring is its impact on enforcement and public safety. When a driver and vehicle are licensed by one council but work in another, enforcement officers in the area where they operate have no authority over them.
This makes it difficult to ensure that vehicles are roadworthy and that drivers meet the standards set by the local licensing authority.
Cases have emerged where vehicles licensed in one area have been found operating with serious defects elsewhere, beyond the reach of the licensing officers responsible for their regulation. This creates a two-tier licensing system, where local drivers adhere to stricter standards while out-of-town drivers operate with less oversight.
There are also ongoing and muddied insurance concerns. Some private hire insurance policies are based on the assumption that vehicles will primarily operate within their licensing area. If a driver fails to disclose that they are working predominantly in another council area with higher risk associated, questions have long been asked about what the impact could be on their hire and reward insurance
THE NEED FOR A NATIONALLY ENFORCED INTENDED USE POLICY
The push for a nationally enforced Intended Use Policy has grown in response to the mass licensing of private hire vehicles by councils that issue licences with minimal scrutiny. Wolverhampton, for example, has issued tens of thousands of licences to drivers who do not live or operate in the city. This has led to complaints from neighbouring councils that their enforcement teams are powerless to regulate the influx of out-of-town vehicles.
Back in 2020 the GMB proposed a ‘Triple Intended Use Policy’ (Triple IUP) that would apply IUPs to private hire vehicles, hackney carriages, and private hire operators. This would have ensured that all three elements of the licensing system remain under local authority control, rather than allowing mass cross-border operations to continue unchecked.
An IUP would not prevent natural cross-border hiring, where a driver picks up a passenger in one area and drops them off in another before returning to their home area. Instead, it would target the deliberate and systematic practice of licensing vehicles in one area and deploying them predominantly in another.
ENFORCING LOCAL LICENSING CONTROL WITHOUT RESTRICTING TRADE
A IUP is not designed to limit drivers’ ability to work. Any driver could still apply for a licence in any local authority, but they would need to work predominantly in that area. If they failed to do so, their vehicle licence could be revoked.
Many councils already apply an Intended Use Policy to hackney carriages, ensuring that taxis licensed in one area primarily operate there. Extending this principle to private hire vehicles would in theory level the playing field, ensuring that private hire drivers cannot simply obtain a licence from the council with the least regulation and work elsewhere.
The Triple Lock rule was meant to ensure that all private hire work is conducted under a single licensing authority’s control. However, it could be argued that without an Intended Use Policy, it has been exploited to enable widespread cross-border hiring, eroding local licensing control.
An Intended Use Policy could reinforce the Triple Lock by requiring that vehicles and operators primarily work within their licensing area, preventing the mass displacement of private hire services. With growing concerns over enforcement and public safety, there is a section within the industry that has long seen an IUP as an essential step towards restoring effective local licensing control.
