Ambulance bosses fear court action

Mar 17 2005 Exclusive, By James Cartledge

Ambulance services across the country could be prosecuted after council chiefs won two pioneering test cases against city hospital transport firms.

That is the worry for three directors after the city council used 30-year-old legislation to take their companies to court for not having private hire licences.

Mike Manning, Robert Newton and Paul Spittle spoke out after being forced to admit to using cars as private hire vehicles without an operator's licence. Their firms transport patients to and from the city's hospitals.

They wanted to fight the charges but were terrified lengthy legal battles would ruin their businesses.

Magistrates handed out absolute discharges in both cases and rapped the council for chasing the prosecutions.

"It's appalling that it got this far," said chairman of the bench, William Grigg.

But, after the hearings, Mr Manning predicted the test cases could spark a red tape nightmare.

"If this was enforced, it would mean even emergency service ambulances would have to be licensed for private hire," he said.

B i r m i n g h a m magistrates heard Mr Manning was a director of Health and Community Ambulance and Patient Transport Ltd and Mr Newman and Mr Spittle ran Community Transport Services.

The council claimed both companies broke the Local Government ( M i s c e l l a n e o u s Provisions) Act 1976 by using cars as private hire vehicles without an operator's licence.

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