What is a "Hiring Margin"?
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Further Comments and Notes Upon the Road and Rail Traffic Act. An Answer to the Question of Who Should License a Hired " Vehicle
THE expression " hiring margin" appears for the first time in the draft memorandum which has been circulated by the Minister of Transport with a view to explaining the provisions of the Act so far as they relate to licences for goods vehicles. It does not appear in the Act itself. Paragraph 13 of the memorandum reads:—
" The tulthority of a licence under the Act is not required by a person who takes on hire (together with the driver), from the holder of an A or B licence, a vehicle authorized by an A or B licence; but a person desiring to take on hire vehicles on terms under which lie assumes complete control of the vehicle (including the employment of the driver and insurance against third-party risks in connection with the use of the vehicle) will require and must apply for authority for a 'hiring margin' to cover such hirings in accordance with the provisions of the Act."
Who Should Obtain the Licence ?
In considering this matter it should be remembered that, whilst no goods vehicle, unless exempted, may be used without a licence, no vehicle may be specified hi more than one licence. eon-segue:nay, if the owner of a vehicle lets it out on hire, it cannot be licensed both by the owner and by the hirer. The question, therefore, arises as to which of these two persons is required to take out the licence.
• The answer appears to be that if the vehicle be hired complete with driver, the licence is to be taken out by the owner, but if it be hired without the driver and is to be used by the hirer as one of his own vehicles, the licence is to be taken out by the latter.
The paragraph in the memorandum appears to take the view that when a person hires a vehicle with the 'driver, the driver remains the servant of the owner. Presumably, this viewmay be accepted so far, at any rate, as the question of a licence under the Act is concerned, although the trend of legal decisions is that, where an accident occurs owing to the negligence of the driver of a hired vehicle, it is the hirer to whom any person who may be injured should look for compensation.
Some difficulty is experienced when examining the Act to find the provisions upon which the abovequoted paragraph from the memorandum is based. Section 2 provides that A, B and C licences shall entitle the holder thereof to use the authorized vehicles for the various purposes to which the licences relate. Sub-section (6) of that section
provides that the vehicles authorized to be used shall be:—
(a) such motor vehicles, being vehicles belonging to the holder of the licence or in his possession under a hire-purchase agreement, as are specified in the licence; (b) motor vehicles from time to time in the possession of the holder of the licence under an agreement for hire or loan, not exceeding at any time such maximum number as is specified in the licence; (c) trailers from time to time belonging to the holder of the licence or in his possession under an agreement for hire purchase, hire or loan, not exceeding at any time such maximum number as is specified in the licence; (d) in the case of a C licence . . any motor vehicle belonging to the holder of the licence or in his possession under a hire-purchase agreement, but acquired by him, or coming into his possession under such an agreement, only after the grant of the licence.
The Right to Hire.
The effect of this sub-section is that a vehicle may not be hired unless the right' to hire vehicles is stated in the licence, and then only up to the maximum number specified in it. This, apparently, applies only where a vehicle is hired without the driver.
The next point to consider is, who is regarded by the Act as being the person who uses a hired vehicle? The answer appears to be that if the vehicle be driven by the hirer himself, or by his own driver, it is regarded as being used .by the hirer, who requires to take out a licence.
If, on the other hand, it be driven by the driver supplied by the owner, it is the owner of the vehicle, and not the -hirer, who is regarded as using the vehicle, and who must take ont the licence. The theory is, as has been pointed out above, that the owner's driver remains his servant, notwithstanding that for the time being he may be under the direction of the;hirer.
Section 1 (1) of the Act provides that no person shall use a goods vehicle on a road for the carriage of goods for hire or reward, or for or in connection with any trade or business carried on by him, 'except under a licence.
Sub-section (3) provides that the driver of a vehicle, if it belongs to him or is in his possession under an agreement for hire, hire purchase, or loan, and, in any other case, the person whose agent or servant the driver is, shall, for the purpose of Part 1 of the Act, be deemed to be the person by whom the vehicle is being used.
In tither words, the user of a hired vehicle is the person who hires it, if he himself drives it, but if it be driven by a paid employee, the user is the employer of the driver, that is to say, the person who supplies the driver.
, Hiring Out a Vehicle with a Driver.
Sub-section (4) makes it clear that, where the owner of a vehicle lets it out on hire together with a driver, the owner must take out an A or a B licence for the vehicle. The sub-section provides that where goods are carried in a goods vehicle, which has been let on hire by the person who, at the time of the carriage of the goods, is, within the meaning of that part of the Act, the user of the vehicle, the goods shall be deemed to he carried by that person for hire or reward. The effect is that a person who has a vehicle licensed under a C licence may not let it out for hire together with the driver.
Where the applicant for a licence wishes to be able to hire vehicles without drivers, he will have to fill up a special " hiring-margin " application form, and he will be required to pay licence fees in respect of each vehicle which he is authorized to hire, and not merely in respect of the vehicles which he actually hires. This is provided for by Regulation 12 (6) of the draft regulations.
Unless his own name be painted on the vehicle in the required manner, the hirer of a vehicle without a driver will have to attach to the vehicle, while it is in his possession, a plate bearing the identification letter and number of the licence under which be is operating the vehicle, in accordance with the Schedule to the Regulations.
rf the owner supplies the driver as well as the vehicle, the hirer will not have to pay any licence fee, or have his name on the identification plate affixed to the vehicle. In such a case, the licence fee will be paid by the owner of the machine, who will have to affix to the vehicle the
relative vehicle certificate,