A local authority has been ordered to pay costs over an 'improper' private prosecution of a taxi company owner.

The defendant was the co-owner of Lucky Seven Taxis, operating in the Midlands, which had applied for new operating licences after the death of a co-owner in late 2021.

The business did not realise that the licence granted by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council lasted for six months - rather than five years - until the afternoon it was due to expire. 

The company made arrangements to run its Newcastle business by allocating bookings to licensed hackney carriages and sub-contracting bookings through another of its entities, based in Stoke, to other Lucky Seven entities or a separate Newcastle-licensed operator, meaning it was compliant with the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

Matt Lewin of Cornerstone Barristers, who represented the defendant, wrote: ‘Crucially, at all times, the business had operated from a single premises – the address of which was specified in their Newcastle operator’s licence – over the border in the administrative area of Stoke-on-Trent. Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council took the view that this arrangement was unlawful and amounted to operating without an operator’s licence, in breach of sections 46 and 55 of the 1976 Act. A prosecution was commenced in October 2022.’ 

The prosecution was adjourned three times due to lack of court time over two-and-a-half years and was finally listed for a fourth time this week at Cannock Magistrates’ Court, where the council offered no evidence.

Lewin added: ‘On the morning of the trial, the council belatedly conceded that it could not prove its case that the defendant had been operating in its own district, given that all of the antecedent arrangements for the dispatch of vehicles had taken place in a neighbouring controlled district.’

Exceptionally, the court granted the defendant’s application under section 19 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 for an award of costs against the council, which is reserved for cases where one party to a prosecution has incurred costs ‘as a result of an unnecessary or improper act or omission’ by another party to the proceedings.  

Stephen Sweeney, deputy leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and Cabinet member for Finance, Town Centres and Growth, said: 'When this case first arose we followed the best advice at the time, however as the situation evolved, a different course of action was required.'