Public Law and Transport

24 January 2022

The UK’s transport infrastructure for trucks, buses, coaches, private hire vehicles and taxis, is largely dependent on the decisions and policies made by public bodies. A ‘public body’ is a public entity that can range from your local or county council all the way up to a government department; the most well known in this industry is likely to be the Department for Transport headed by the Minister for Transport, currently Grant Shapps. These vital decisions and policies can have a significant impact on vehicle operators and transport businesses, affecting their commerciality, but also and more importantly they can have an impact on the wider public who rely on such operators and businesses to provide public and private transport services.

For example, the closure of vital city centre roads and pedestrianisation of city centre areas are decisions made by public bodies that may inhibit how accessible that city centre is for those who rely on public and private transport to be dropped off in those areas.

Other decisions, policies, changes, and consultations discussed and implemented by public bodies that have received media attention recently are the changes to the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), Covid-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG), and the process of devising and making Enhanced Partnership Schemes in different council areas.

The thrust of this article is to highlight to the transport industry and vehicle operators that when these decisions, policies, and/or consultations are made and/or implemented by public bodies, there is generally an obligation on these public bodies to behave in a way that meets a certain legal standard of rational behaviour. Councils and government departments must make legally rational decisions and where individuals, businesses, and/or other operators are of the view that a public body has made an irrational decision, there are processes in the UK that allows those decisions to be challenged.

That being said, the time limit within which a challenge can be made against a public body’s decision is often quite short. Usually, the period in which a challenge can be brought amounts to 3 months from the date of the decision (although there are some shorter exemptions to this, e.g., when challenging some planning decisions). In such circumstances, the Court does have some flexibility in respect of that period, and there are potentially measures challengers can take to ensure that they fall within the relevant period.

In conclusion, where a person or organisation wishes to challenge the decision of a public body, the key message to keep in mind is that the challenge will need to be brought in good time (regardless of any 3-month or other limitation period), and so it is key that potential challengers reach out and take legal advice as soon as possible.

For legal advice on challenging such decisions, contact Backhouse Jones on 01254 828300 or via email at enquiries@backhouses.co.uk.