The local council has prohibited a bar owner who gave patrons rides home in his black taxi from continuing to do so.
Paul Hartfield, who owns the Flying Horse in Smarden in Ashford, Kent, has raised hundreds of pounds for charity by inviting customers to make small donations to the Motor Neurone Disease Association for using his taxi.
He did not make a profit from the cab service, which he hoped would help punters get home safely, and chose the charity because one of his patrons had been diagnosed with the disease.
Mr Hartfield had raised at least £700 and drove around 100 customers’ homes since he began providing the complimentary rides in November last year.
But Ashford Borough Council chose to shut the not-for-profit service down on Friday after a local newspaper report highlighted the landlord’s charitable work, according to reports.
Mr Hartfield was told by the authority’s licensing team that he was subject to ‘requirements for local authority licensing’ because his black cab was a ‘private hire vehicle’ – despite the landlord not personally benefitting financially.
He explained that customers of The Flying Horse – which dates back to 1790 – were simply asked to make a charitable donation for using the taxi.
But a council official reportedly wrote back, telling him a person can ‘be said to derive commercial benefit’ – even if a payment isn’t made to him.
Mr Hartfield told The Telegraph: ‘It’s mean-spirited that we are doing this for charity and I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do, to be honest.
‘With the Government increasing business rates and rising costs, it just feels like it’s all going against us pubs at the moment.’
Flying Horse customer Paul Upton told the newspaper the council’s decision was ‘pure jobsworth nonsense’.
Mr Hartfield previously said of his taxi: ‘I bought it especially for the pub. I used to own a black cab garage, so I know cabs.
‘This pub has done a lot for charity, and we have some great customers in the village. There are a lot of lovely people who come here.
‘So, when they ring up and book a table, I ask them if they want a lift home. And if they say yes, they make a donation to charity.’
The Flying Horse had formerly been run by Mr Hartfield’s daughter Natasha before he took over.
So, councils are at it again. They shouldn’t be called councils; they should be called the Mafia.
This man was simultaneously doing two nice things. For what reason would they wish to prevent him from doing that? I’ll explain why: anything that doesn’t increase their income is prohibited.
Even if you tried, you couldn’t make this up. It’s a great way to extinguish neighbourhood spirit in the community, though, and I would encourage more of this, rather than less, but then I guess that’s why we have councils – to show us all what total stupidity looks like.
Of course, eventually there will be no pubs or areas of entertainment, because our government doesn’t want us talking to each other – have you people not learnt anything yet?
This nice, thoughtful man is making sure his customers don’t drink and drive, as well as making money for charity, and the council wants to prevent this. I wonder if the council would stop him if he were collecting illegals from the beaches? He sounds like an extremely nice man, and I hope the foolish council recognise how ludicrous they’re being.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 