7.2 Animals, Lost Property & Seat Belts

7.2 Animals, Lost Property & Seat Belts

Quick Answer: Animals and birds may be carried only on terms at the sole discretion of the driver; the person who takes the animal/bird is responsible for damage and pays for it. Anyone finding property left in the taxi must immediately hand it to the driver in the state found. After every journey/hiring the driver must carefully search the vehicle; property found must go to a police station within 6 hours (state found + true particulars), unless the owner claims sooner with satisfactory proof — then restore to the owner. If a passenger refuses or fails to wear a seat belt under the Road Traffic (Safety Equipment) Regulation, the driver may refuse hire or refuse to drive; that passenger must leave if required by the driver / authorised person / police and pay the legal fare then on the taximeter.

This section covers three Booklet clusters that examiners mix freely: §XI animals, §XII lost property, and §XIII seat belts. They share a theme: who decides, who is responsible, and what must happen immediately after a hire or a refusal.

Animals and Birds: Driver's Sole Discretion

Carriage of animals or birds, and the terms of that carriage, rest in the sole discretion of the driver.

What that means in practice and on the exam:

1. No automatic right for a passenger to force an animal or bird into the taxi merely because they are willing to pay the animal extra.
2. The driver may accept, refuse, or accept only on stated terms (for example, containment expectations consistent with lawful and safe carriage).
3. Discretion is the driver's — not the stand marshal's invention of a different private rule set that replaces the Booklet, and not a passenger majority vote.

Responsibility and damage

The person who takes the animal or bird on the taxi is:

• responsible for damage caused by that animal or bird, and
• liable to pay for that damage.

So acceptance is not a waiver of property damage. If a pet soils or damages seats, interior trim, or equipment, the person who brought the animal/bird bears responsibility and payment.

Fare link (do not confuse with discretion)

Section 6.2 teaches an additional fare of $5 per animal or bird when carried. That is the money figure when carriage happens. Section 7.2 answers a different question: whether the animal may board at all, and who pays for damage. Never treat the $5 extra as converting animal carriage into a passenger right that cancels driver discretion.

Exam contrast table:

Lost Property: Finder's Duty

Anyone who finds property accidentally left in the taxi must immediately hand it to the driver, and must hand it over in the state found.

Teaching points:

• Immediately — not after finishing your own journey home, not after checking the contents for an address at leisure.
• In the state found — do not open sealed bags to "help," do not remove cash "for safekeeping" in your pocket, do not clean or rearrange the find in a way that alters evidence of how it was left.
• Hand to the driver first — the Booklet channels finds through the driver, who then has search and deposit duties (below).

This duty applies to any finder — another passenger, a cleaner, a subsequent hirer who discovers an item. The exam loves the words immediately and state found.

Lost Property: Driver Search After Every Hire

Immediately after every journey or hiring, the driver must carefully search the vehicle.

Why the rule is strict:

• Taxis turn over strangers constantly; wallets, phones, and documents are left daily.
• A careful search after every hire — not only long airport runs — is the Booklet standard.
• "Immediately after" ties the duty to the end of that hiring, not to end-of-shift only.

Operational habit for study: treat end-of-hire as a three-step close — stop meter/receipt process as required elsewhere, search cabin and relevant storage, then leave or take the next hire. Missing the search is a syllabus failure point even if no property is present on a given trip.

Lost Property: Six-Hour Police Deposit (and Owner Exception)

When the driver finds property (whether from personal search or handed in by a finder), the driver must:

1. Deposit it at a police station
2. In the state found
3. Within 6 hours
4. And truly state the particulars of the finding

Within 6 hours

The clock teaching for the exam is 6 hours — not 24 hours, not "next working day," not "when convenient after the night shift ends whenever that may be" as a substitute for the stated limit. Plan deposit so that property found at any hour still reaches a police station inside the 6-hour window.

State found + true particulars

• Keep the property as found (same integrity idea as the finder duty).
• When depositing, truly state particulars — honest account of when/where/how found, not a fabricated story to avoid inconvenience.

Exception: owner claims sooner with satisfactory proof

If the owner claims the property sooner (before police deposit) and produces satisfactory proof of ownership, the driver must restore the property to the owner instead of taking it to the police.

Read the exception carefully:

• It is owner + satisfactory proof, not a vague friend who "thinks it might be theirs."
• Restoration to the proven owner replaces the police deposit path for that item.
• If proof is not satisfactory, the safe Booklet path remains police station within 6 hours.

Lost-property memory chain:

Finder → driver (immediate, state found) → driver searches every hire → police ≤6 h (state found + true particulars) OR owner with satisfactory proof sooner.

Seat Belts: Refuse Hire or Refuse to Drive

Under the Booklet seat-belt cluster (aligned with the Road Traffic (Safety Equipment) Regulation), if a passenger refuses or fails to wear a seat belt as required, the driver may:

• refuse the hire, or
• refuse to drive (once the issue arises in the course of hiring).

This is an explicit protective power. Seat belts are not optional courtesy for adults where the safety equipment law requires them; professional drivers are not expected to proceed while a passenger unlawfully refuses restraint.

Passenger must leave and still pay

A passenger who will not comply must leave the taxi if required by:

• the driver, or
• an authorised person, or
• the police

And that passenger must pay the legal fare then shown on the taximeter.

Critical exam points:

1. Leave when required — non-compliance is not a right to occupy the vehicle indefinitely.
2. Pay the legal fare then on the taximeter — the dispute over the belt does not erase fare already lawfully registered. The passenger pays what the meter shows at that point, not a free ride because the hire ends early over a safety refusal.
3. Authority to require leaving can come from driver / authorised person / police — learn the three sources.

How this interacts with accept-hire duties (preview of 7.3)

Section 7.3 will stress that a driver must not, without reasonable excuse, refuse hire or refuse to drive to the indicated place. Seat-belt refusal by the passenger is precisely the kind of safety-equipment / Booklet-authorised situation that supports refuse hire or refuse to drive under §XIII. Do not treat 7.3 as cancelling 7.2; treat seat-belt non-compliance as a lawful ground within the wider duty framework.

Integrated Scenarios (Exam Style)

Scenario A — Dog at the kerb. Passenger wants a dog in the cabin and offers $5. Driver may still decline under sole discretion. If the driver accepts and the dog damages a seat, the person who took the dog pays for damage.

Scenario B — Phone under the seat. Next passenger finds a phone and pockets it "to post online later." Wrong — must immediately hand it to the driver in the state found.

Scenario C — End of airport hire. Driver must carefully search immediately after the hiring, not only when a passenger reports a loss.

Scenario D — Wallet found at 01:00. Deposit at police station within 6 hours in the state found with true particulars, unless the owner appears sooner with satisfactory proof.

Scenario E — Belt refused after boarding. Driver may refuse to drive; passenger must leave if required and pay the meter fare then due.

Memory Hooks

• Animals: driver discretion; taker pays damage; $5 is fare not a right to board.
• Lost property: immediately to driver; search every hire; police ≤6 hours; owner proof → restore.
• Seat belts: refuse hire/drive if passenger will not wear; leave + pay meter.

Closing Checklist for Section 7.2

1. Animals/birds: sole discretion of driver; damage on the person who takes them.
2. Finder: immediately to driver, state found.
3. Driver: careful search immediately after every journey/hiring.
4. Deposit at police station within 6 hours, state found, true particulars.
5. Exception: proven owner claims sooner → restore to owner, not police.
6. Seat belt refusal/failure: may refuse hire or drive; passenger leaves if required; pays legal fare then on taximeter.

Section 7.3 expands the core accept-hire, route, and passenger-count obligations that sit beside these property and safety rules — including high TDOP point exposures for refuse-hire and wrong-route style failures.