The Supreme Court held that the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (“the 1976 Act”) does not impose a requirement for an operator who accepts a private hire booking to enter as principal into a contract with the person making the booking. In summary, the Supreme Court found that there is nothing expressly provided in the 1976 Act which can be interpreted as supporting the prohibition for which UBL contends, the 1976 Act seeks to achieve public safety through licensing and section 56(1) of the 1976 Act would be rendered otiose if UBL were correct.

A copy of the judgment can be found here.

Gerald Gouriet KC and Michael Feeney appeared for the Second Respondent, Veezu Holdings Ltd in the Supreme Court.