A bylaw ticket issued to a local limousine driver two years was thrown out of court this morning.

And the owners of the city's only two limousine companies said after the verdict the case is a reflection of a bloodthirsty quest by city hall to push the businesses under the bylaw which governs taxi cabs.

Michel Tetrault of Froggy First Class Limousine said he is not a taxi, nor does he want to be governed by the taxi bylaw.

The limo operators don't want lights on top of their vehicles, nor do they want meters with fares set by the city, added Woody Boychuk of Royal Limo, who was in court for the decision.

"I am not in the taxi business,” Tetrault insisted. "I am in the charter business.”

Both Tetrault and Boychuk added said they are constantly being targetted by the city's bylaw department.

The city fined Tetrault $100 in November 2008 for not having a permit under the bylaw regulating taxi cabs.

A territorial court justice of the peace upheld the conviction. On appeal by Tetrault, however, a Yukon Supreme Court judge ordered the city either drop the charge or start over because of an improper procedure employed by the city, Tetrault explained.

As was the case with his two previous court appearances, Monday's trial was held in French in front of Judge Jacques Roy from Montreal, with French-English translation services provided from Vancouver by telephone.

Roy delivered the verdict this morning primarily in French, though switching briefly to English periodically. Translation could be described as broken at times.

In fact, city lawyer Lori Lavoie asked the judge to clarify a point in his decision after he finished delivering it but he denied the request, explaining judges don't provide interpretations of their decisions.

Roy told the city's lawyer she would have to obtain a transcript from which she can decide whether to appeal his ruling.

Neither city manager Dennis Shewfelt nor bylaw manager Dave Pruden were available before press time this afternoon to comment.

Tetrault explained the decision is somewhat hard to absorb because it involves a definition taken from the territorial government's Liquor Act.

The territorial law, which is the only piece of legislation in the Yukon containing a specific definition of a limousine, defines limousines as charter buses because of their size, he explained.

Tetrault's limo has 11 seats.

But city hall doesn't want to build a definition of limousine into its bylaw which governs vehicles for hire, he said. Doing so, Tetrault continued, would mean the city's definition would have to reflect the definition contained in the territorial Liquor Act, because territorial legislation is superior to city bylaws.

He said if city hall includes limousines – charter buses – in its bylaw, it becomes responsible for regulating all charter buses operating in the city, school buses included, and it does not want the headache.

On the other hand, agreed Tetrault and Boychuk while standing outside the courtroom, the city does seem obsessed with somehow getting its hooks into the two local companies, but it's costing them.

"I've being doing this for the last 10 years, every year, and it's cost me thousands,” Boychuk said.

On the very same day Tetrault was fined two years ago, so too was Boychuk, but Boychuk said he hired a lawyer and the matter never went anywhere.

Tetrault said he wasn't prepared to face the expense of a lawyer, so he represented himself.

It's somewhat puzzling why the city is so focused on the limo business, he added. It's not a cash cow by any means, he added, and if he didn't have the revenue from a second job, he wouldn't be able to survive.

Tetrault said it can't be an issue of safety and road worthiness, because those matters are governed by territorial regulations.

Boychuk estimates the city zeal for victory has cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars prosecuting Tetrault.