We must cut a road through all red tape

I still remember the day we were awarded our operator's licence - the first of its kind anywhere in the world - and the excitement we felt.

I was almost in a state of disbelief.

After all, it had taken more than two years just to reach that stage because we had to wade through a mass of complex and archaic legislation.

That, however, was just the first hurdle.

We wanted to set up in London but as a tuk-tuk service had not been run anywhere in Europe before, we thought it prudent to run a pilot outside the capital first.

I was familiar with Brighton being a hip place where things happen first and the more I looked into the city's profile and visitor numbers, the more I became convinced it was the right place to set up our pilot service.

Brighton and Hove was also a city leading the way on environmental issues and because our vehicles were the only public transport fleet in the UK to operate on zero-emission natural gas fuel, we hoped we could boost Brighton and Hove's "green" image further.

And so Brighton and Hove's tuk-tuk service was born - the first of its kind anywhere in Europe and, indeed, the world.

It was a coup for the city and for the UK.

Our launch on that warm misty day in July 2006 exceeded our every expectation - we were completely overwhelmed by how we had captured people's imaginations.

The media went crazy and we were inundated with inquiries from every corner of the world. We even appeared on the front page of the Times of India.

Sadly, not everyone was so happy and the city's taxi lobby waged a ferocious campaign against us - first claiming we breached our licence terms and later saying our vehicles were unsafe.

The fact is people can decide for themselves if they wish to use certain modes of transport or not.

In any case, each tuk-tuk is individually safety tested by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency and all our vehicles have passed every time.

Furthermore, given the thousands of journeys we have made in the past two years, we have an excellent safety record.

It was a massive disappointment then to be called to a public inquiry in October 2006 for alleged breaches of our licence.

Yes, we had made mistakes and we fully acknowledged those.

But the then Traffic Commissioner Office, the Government body that licenses us, gave us no credit for the fact we had made every effort to improve the service where we could or the fact our service was unique and innovative - and the only one in the UK to operate on environmentally friendly natural gas fuel. Fortunately, the transport tribunal that listened to our appeal did give us credit and our fine was halved.

In my opinion, we have been appallingly treated by the Traffic Commissioner's Office. In 2007 it lost our service application and then delayed our new service start date by two months.

We have received no apology and no compensation for the catalogue of errors it made. Traffic commissioners are completely unaccountable to anyone, something we are campaigning to have changed.

Even Brighton and Hove City Council, although not directly involved in licensing us, has been difficult at times, to say the least.

It gave us permission to erect our bus stop signs on lamp columns.

Then it told us it had made a mistake and some lamp columns were listed and required planning permission.

It has also threatened us with legal action and demanded we remove our vehicle roof-top signs.

Finally, it even issued us with a parking fine for stopping at a bus stop, even though we were a registered bus service.

As a business, we have been faced with all the normal challenges and difficulties.

However, we have also been up against a wall of bureaucracy.

Clearly, the existing legislation, both bus and taxi, is an inadequate framework within which to operate an efficient tuk-tuk service.

We are not the only type of operator affected - stretched limo and pedicab rickshaw companies also fall between the archaic taxi and bus laws.

It is clearly time laws were passed to accommodate these new, alternative modes of transport for which there is massive public demand.

Businesses that operate these services must be regulated in such a way that they have the chance to thrive but also so public safety and confidence are safeguarded.

We are therefore calling on everyone in Sussex to write to transport minister Rosie Winterton and demand new legislation appropriate to novelty and alternative transport.

This way our environmentally friendly transport service, and others like it, may not be killed off.

Write to Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.

• The Argus contacted the Department for Transport and the Traffic Commissioner's Office for comments but both declined.