Rida v Roads & Maritime Services [2013] NSWADT 18

Administrative Decisions Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Rida v Roads & Maritime Services [2013] NSWADT 18 Decision date: 29 January 2013 Jurisdiction: General Division Before: S Frost, Judicial Member Decision: Decision to cancel licence affirmed Catchwords: Transport - licensing - private hire vehicle licence - breach of provisions of Passenger Transport Regulation - breach of conditions of licence Legislation Cited: Passenger Transport Act 1990 Passenger Transport Regulation 2007 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Nader Rida (Applicant) Roads & Maritime Services (Respondent) Representation: N Rida (Applicant in person) Smythe Wozniak Legal (Respondent) File Number(s): 123299

reasons for decision 1GENERAL DIVISION (S FROST, JUDICIAL MEMBER): The applicant, Nader Rida, has been driving hire cars for 12 years. Before that he was a taxi driver. He has applied to the Tribunal for review of the decision of the respondent, made on 17 October 2012, to cancel his hire car licence. (He has continued to conduct his hire car activities because on 23 October 2012 the Tribunal granted a stay of the cancellation decision.) 2I have decided to affirm the decision to cancel the licence. My reasons follow.

The licensing of private hire vehicles 3Mr Rida's hire car is licensed as a "private hire vehicle" (PHV) for the purposes of the Passenger Transport Act 1990 (the Act). The licence has several conditions attached to it. Condition 3, apparently a standard condition imposed on PHV licences, is as follows: The private hire vehicle must not ply or stand for hire on any road or road related area and must not carry out a hiring other than a pre-booked hiring. 4Clause 189 of the Passenger Transport Regulation 2007 (the regulations) imposes a similar restriction on any driver of a PHV, as follows: The driver of a private hire vehicle must not: (a) ply, stand or park the vehicle for hire on any road or road related area, or (b) use the vehicle to carry out a hiring other than a pre-booked hiring, or (c) ... Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units. 5Those conditions and restrictions have the effect of drawing a stark distinction between a PHV and a taxi. In simple terms, a PHV cannot pick up passengers at random on the street; passengers must pre-book a journey and pre-agree with the driver how much the journey will cost. The distinctions must be well known to a person such as Mr Rida, with his many years of experience as both a PHV driver and a taxi driver. He can also be expected to be acutely aware of the fact that taxi plate licences are much more expensive than PHV licences.