Button on Taxis: Licensing Law and Practice, 3rd Edition

• the Disability Discrimination Act 2005
• the Road Safety Act 2006
• the DfT’s Good Practice Guide

• Brentwood Borough Council v Gladen 2004 Admin Crt
• R (on the application of Johnson) v Reading Borough Council 2004 Admin Crt
• Sardar v Watford Borough Council 2006 Admin Crt
• Chorley Borough Council v Thomas QBD 2001 Admin Crt
• Key Cabs Ltd T/A Taxifast v Plymouth City Council 2007 Admin Crt
• Darlington BC v Kaye 2005 Admin Crt
• R v Chester Crown Court (app Wrexham CBC) 2004 Admin Crt
• Telford v Wrekin Borough Council v Ahmed 2006 Admin Crt, Singh v Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council 2007 Admin Crt and Sedgefield Borough Council v Crowe 2008 Admin Crt

"Good value for a clear guide to the whole topic."

Licensing review, April/May 2009

Button on Taxis: Licensing Law and Practice is now in its third edition and is already gaining an enviable reputation as the leading text on this discrete area of law. New for this edition are the changes to the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, the Road Safety Act 2006 and the Department of Transport’s Good Practice Guide.

Button on Taxis: Licensing Law and Practice is written by James Button, a leading practitioner in this area of law. It is split into twenty-three chapters and two appendices. It includes chapters giving a brief overview of Hackney carriage and private hire licensing, fees for licences, Hackney carriages outside of London, private hire operations outside London, Hackney carriages within London and private hire operators within London. The appendices are split in two: legislation and circulars. The legislation appendix is, in turn, divided into three parts which includes legislation generic to taxis, legislation application to London and legislation applicable outside of London.

For many practitioners, Button on Taxis: Licensing Law and Practice is an extremely important text as it pulls together the various strands of this diverse and interesting area of law into one (rather thick) volume. Its commentary spans nearly 650 pages. Its first chapter impressively sets the scene for those practitioners who dip in and out of this area of law by providing a practical overview of Hackney carriage and private hire licensing. The later chapters build onto this skeleton by providing more substantive comment. Button’s written style is both practical and accessible allowing some of the more complex provisions to be quickly understood.

Practitioners dealing with taxi law and licensing should keep Button on Taxis: Licensing Law and Practice close to hand. It is also an important text for those dealing with licensing applications as it usefully explains the relevant principles that need to be considered. Those who have yet to use it will find its layout similar to cases and materials book as Button combines commentary with extracts from cases and legislative provisions. It also has a number of excellent features including, for example, the table (together with commentary) of cases dealing with plying and standing for hire in Chapter 8. Its price, at £85, also means it provides excellent value for money.