Biswas v Transport for London [2025] EWHC 567 (Admin), [2025] 3 WLUK 323

On 27 February 2025 Jack Nicholls appeared in the Divisional Court for the Appellant, instructed by Jason Borg at Foskett Marr Gadsby & Head LLP. The matter concerned an appeal by way of case stated against convictions under the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 of being an operator of vehicles used as a ‘private hire vehicle’ when the vehicle or driver did not hold a private hire licence.

During the Covid pandemic the Appellant had contracted with three London boroughs to provide vehicles with drivers for the purpose of transporting children with Special Educational Needs to and from school. It was argued that the vehicles were not ‘private hire vehicles’ within the meaning of the Act: Section 1(1)(a) expressly excluded licenced taxis and public service vehicles from the scheme of the Act so that the paradigm case of a ‘private hire vehicle’ was a mini cab. The provision of specialist transport with trained drivers, health and safety equipment and wheelchair accessibility was far from the paradigm case. It was far from obvious that Parliament should be concerned in the same Act with (on the one hand) mini-cab drivers collecting passengers on the streets of London at all times of the day and night and (on the other hand) the provision of regular, specialist transport services.

In a reserved judgment handed down on 19 March 2025 the Court held that the lower court had been entitled to conclude that a school transport service for children with SEN was not the same as, and did not share the characteristics of, the transportation of patients for medical needs, such that the vehicles were ‘private hire vehicles’ within the meaning of the legislation. However, the Court did observe that there was nothing before the court to suggest that the Appellant’s failure to obtain licences was more than an error when attempting to carry out a public service in the pandemic.

Please click the following links to read a summary and the full judgment on WestLaw. A PDF copy of the judgment is available to view here.