Comment from the Traffic Commissioner regarding Dry Hiring - a term which is being used when a private person hires a limousine on a self drive basis.
For the benefit of the public at large, I comment on the reference to the issue of "dry hiring" which was an attempted defence used in one of the magistrates' court hearings. That defence was rejected by the District Judge. Dry hiring is a ruse which has on occasion been attempted by some illegal operators whereby they claim that they are not operating a vehicle as they hire it out, in the same way that
any ordinary car hire company does so.
For the avoidance of doubt, one can hire a large goods vehicle to move one's own property when moving house, assuming that one has an appropriate driving licence. Similarly, theoretically it is possible to hire a passenger carrying vehicle without the requirements for an Operator's Licence and under certain limited
circumstances a hire arrangement may not be illegal. However, it is clear that a business which runs limousines on the basis of hiring out vehicles with the suggestion that
the hirer is the operator, is a fiction which does not stand up to even cursory scrutiny.
Anyone who operates a vehicle or uses a vehicle for hire and reward requires an appropriate licence. This will be a private hire licence or taxi licence from a local authority, or alternatively a PSV Licence from a traffic commissioner. In the case of vehicles which are the larger limousines which have 9 or more passenger seats, only a traffic commissioner can grant a licence. It has for many decades been a criminal offence to operate for hire or reward without a licence. Theoretically, an individual who hires a vehicle and thereby operates at the invitation of companies will be committing a criminal offence. In practise, it is most unlikely that they would be prosecuted as they have been duped by the so called hire company. Nevertheless, if a Limousine Company does hire out a vehicle to someone else to operate then it will be aiding abetting, counselling and procuring the commission of the
offence of operating without an Operator's Licence. In other words, the ruse or fiction of "dry hiring" which has been used by some unlicensed operators is illegal.