Western Australian Consolidated Regulations

TAXI REGULATIONS 1995 - REG 13

13 .         Driver must accept hirer except in certain circumstances; when driver can terminate hiring

        (1)         At any time during which a driver is plying for hire that driver must accept any hirer, and any person accompanying a hirer, as a passenger in the taxi he or she is driving unless — 

            (aa)         the driver has reasonable grounds to believe that —

                  (i)         the hirer or a person accompanying the hirer; or

                  (ii)         the place at which the hiring is to commence or terminate,

                poses a threat to the driver’s safety; or

            (ab)         the driver has reasonable grounds to believe that the hiring would result in a breach of a condition imposed by the Director General under section 20 on the operation of the taxi; or

            (a)         the hirer or a person accompanying the hirer is in such an unclean condition that he or she will soil the taxi; or

            (b)         the hirer or a person accompanying the hirer is abusive or aggressive; or

            (c)         the hirer or a person accompanying the hirer appears to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs to such an extent that he or she is likely to soil the taxi or become abusive or aggressive; or

            (d)         the driver has reasonable grounds to believe that the hirer, or a person accompanying the hirer, has evaded or attempted to evade the payment of a fare for hiring a taxi; or

            (e)         the driver requires the hirer to pay a deposit under regulation 12, and the hirer does not pay it; or

            (f)         the hirer and persons accompanying the hirer aged 12 or over exceed the number of available seatbelts in the taxi.

        (2)         If at any point during the period of a hiring a person begins to soil the taxi or become abusive or aggressive, the driver may terminate the hiring and require the hirer to pay — 

            (a)         the fare that would have been due if the hiring had terminated at that point in the normal course of events; and

            (b)         a charge to cover the cost of cleaning the taxi, as set out in the fare schedule.

        (3)         A driver shall not terminate a hiring before reaching the agreed destination, for reasons other than those set out in subregulation (2).

        [Regulation 13 amended in Gazette 8 Dec 1998 p. 6586; 23 Jan 2004 p. 321‑2; 10 Sep 2004 p. 3923‑4; 10 Dec 2004 p. 5911.]