Driver disqualified following second touting offence
A hire vehicle driver was recently disqualified from driving a taxi, rideshare or any point to point transport vehicle following a second touting offence in the Downing Centre District Court.
Touting is dangerous for both drivers and passengers, as there is no record of the passenger service, nor verification that safety checks have been made on the driver or vehicle. The Magistrate presiding reinforced the seriousness of the offence along with the need to deter other people from touting and soliciting.
Throughout 2024, the Commissioner has prosecuted five drivers, one of whom received two separate convictions in 2024, for touting and soliciting, with three drivers being disqualified from driving point to point transport services.
The Commissioner’s Inspectors will continue to carry out highly visible and plain-clothes compliance operations at the Airport, targeted sites and across NSW - and drivers who break the law will continue to be fined and prosecuted.
Our touting and soliciting fact sheet provides more details to help drivers understand the law.
Refer to clause 66 of the Point to Point Transport (Taxis and Hire Vehicles) Regulation 2017.
Wheelchair Accessible Taxi driver prosecuted and fined for two serious safety breaches
Wheelchair Accessible Taxis (WATs) play an important role in the point to point transport industry by providing safe passenger services for people travelling in wheelchairs.
Everyone involved in the provision of wheelchair accessible services has specific safety obligations which help ensure the safest possible passenger services are being provided.
A Wheelchair Accessible Taxi (WAT) driver has recently been prosecuted at Belmont Local Court for two instances of failing to comply with safety standards under the point to point transport law and ordered to pay a total of $2000 in fines.
The driver failed to properly secure a passenger travelling in a wheelchair on two separate occasions, once in September 2022 and again in January 2023. These safety breaches unfortunately resulted in serious injuries for both passengers.
The Court noted that a single offence may have been available for a non-conviction but was concerned that the driver "did not learn his lesson" from the first offence and continued to breach his duty of care on another occasion.
The driver has appealed the conviction. If the conviction is upheld in the Court, the driver will be disqualified from the industry.
Drivers of wheelchair accessible vehicles must be able to demonstrate competency in the safe loading, restraint and unloading of a person in a wheelchair.
On our website you can access our Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles Safety Toolkit which outlines the obligations of service providers and drivers when providing wheelchair accessible passenger services.
The Regulation (Clause 26) details how service providers and drivers must comply with this safety standard.