Licensing of carriages

(1) The owner of a carriage shall not keep or use the same or permit it to be kept or used within the City of Belize as a public carriage unless it be licensed by the Council for that purpose in addition to being licensed under the preceding by-law. (2) No such carriage shall be licensed, or having been licensed shall be used as a public carriage unless the construction and state of repair of such carriage and of any harness, brakes, lamps, engine, steering gear, and other mechanism requisite for the efficient propulsion, guidance or control thereof be thoroughly sound and serviceable. (3) Any such carriage intended to be licensed under this by- law shall be produced where directed to be inspected and tested 190 Belize City Council by the Council’s Inspector. The owner shall at his own expense facilitate such inspection and test aforesaid and shall if requested dismantle and expose any part of the mechanism or machinery. Second Schedule. (4) If such carriage produced as aforesaid shall be found by the Council’s Inspector to be thoroughly sound and serviceable to be licensed as a public carriage, he shall give to the owner thereof a certificate in the form of the Second Schedule to these By-laws, provided that if the Council’s Inspector is at any time satisfied after inspection that any public carriage produced as aforesaid is not in a thoroughly sound and serviceable condition to be licensed as a public carriage, he shall forthwith give notice in writing to the proprietor stating the nature and particulars of the unsoundness or unserviceability and prohibiting the use of such carriage until the same is put in a sound and serviceable condition. (5) Every application for a licence to keep or use a public carriage within Belize City shall contain the following information– (a) name, home address, telephone number, date of birth, and social security number of the applicant or applicants; (b) business name, business address and telephone number, if different from (a) above; (c) a list of current drivers employed by the business with each driver’s permit number; (d) form of the business of the applicant, including whether sole proprietor, company or partnership and in the case of companies and partnerships, a copy of the documents registering and incorporating the business and the name, address and citizenship of each person (if non- Belizean) who have shares and other interest in the business; Belize City Council 191 (e) number and description of carriages the applicant proposes to use in the operation of the service, including any identifying characteristics such as colour, style and other markings; (f) number of horses the applicant intends to use in the operation of the service along with a description and four separate and unobstructed colour photographs of each animal (including face, both sides and rear), and a statement (not more than 30 days old) by a certified veterinarian documenting that the horse has been examined and is fit for use in a carriage- operated business and that a suitable health maintenance plan is in place, together with a copy of the plan for use by the Council’s Inspector; (g) a description of the proposed service, including routes, rates and fares to be charged, and the schedules, where applicable; (h) documentary evidence from a registered insurance company indicating that the carriage has at least a third-party risk insurance policy; (i) any additional information which the Council may from time to time require, including indicators of growth in the industry, levels of competitiveness within the industry and other information relating to public safety and traffic safety. (6) In granting a license under this By-law, the City Administrator shall have regard to the following factors, among other relevant considerations192 Belize City Council (a) level of competitiveness and the prevalence of operators and the ratio of operators and carriages in the industry; (b) quality of service which the applicant intends to offer; (c) ability of the applicant to settle claims expeditiously including but not limited to personal injuries to passengers; (d) character of the applicant; (e) state of road-worthiness of his carriages; (f) ability of the applicant to adhere to the Animal Health Plan promulgated by the Council after consultation with all stakeholders. (7) The licence for a public carriage shall be issued by City Administrator either for a period of one calendar year or for any period of six months from the 1st day of January to the 30th day of June, or from the 1st day of July to the 31st day of December in any year, or for any other period less than a year expiring on the 31st day of December in any year, upon production by the applicant of a certificate given by the Council’s Inspector as aforesaid and upon payment of the respective fees prescribed in Part 2 of the First Schedule to these By-Laws. First Schedule. Third Schedule. (8) Such licence, which shall be in the form of the Third Schedule to these By-Laws, shall bear the date of the day of issue and shall apply to the public carriage in respect of which it has been issued, provided that upon receipt of a transfer fee of fifty dollars, the City Administrator may transfer any such licence to another carriage the property of the same owner after such other carriage has been inspected and approved of by the Council’s Inspector as aforesaid. Belize City Council 193 Such transfer shall be endorsed upon the licence, and the carriage originally licensed shall thereupon become unlicensed. (9) Every licence issued under this by-law shall state on its face that it is for the exclusive use of operating a horsedrawn carriage service for hire in Belize City. It may contain any or all of the following as deemed necessary by the City Administrator, which may be shown on the back of the licence– (a) number and description of carriages authorised and approved; (b) number and description of horses to be used; (c) number of passengers who may be safely transported in each carriage having special consideration for the weight of each passenger and the capacity of both the carriage and the (d) designated points of departure and arrivals of each carriage; (e) use of special safety equipment including braking system; (f) use of special sanitary devices including diapers and other safety procedures. (10) The Council’s Inspector may in writing order the owner of any public carriage to produce at any time such carriage and any horses or mules (if any) used for drawing the same for inspection. The owner shall obey such order and shall at the prescribed time produce such carriage and any horse or mule as aforesaid for inspection and shall at his own expense facilitate such inspection. If any such carriage or horse or mule shall at any time be certified by the Council’s Inspector to be unfit for use the City Administrator may suspend the licence granted in respect of such carriage until such time as it is certified to the Council by the 194 Belize City Council Council’s Inspector that, the defects of such carriage have been remedied to his satisfaction or that the horse or mule used in drawing the same is fit for use. (11) The owner of a carriage who plies for hire or accepts hire in respect of the same without first having obtained a licence for that purpose, or who having obtained a licence plies for or accepts hire in respect of such carriage during the time such licence is suspended, or who plies for or accepts hire in respect of the same without obtaining a third party insurance cover from a registered insurance company in respect of such carriage, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment. Fifth Schedule. (12) In the case of any public carriage certified by the Council’s Inspector to be of a superior class to carriages ordinarily plying for hire, the Council may authorise the City Administrator to endorse the licence of such carriage with the words “Special licence”. When a licence is so endorsed such public carriage shall be exempted from the fares set out in the Fifth Schedule of these By-Laws. (13) The owner of every cart or dray drawn by horse or mule licensed as aforesaid for the carriage of goods or material shall paint or cause to be painted in figures of at least one and a half inches in length in a conspicuous position on each shaft of such cart or dray the number of the licence thereof.