Agenda item

Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Points Scheme

To consider a report on a penalty point schemes as a tool to assist them in

relation to ensuring the holders of hackney carriage and private hire licences

are compliant with the requirements they have upon them as licence holders.

 

 

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report which provided details of a Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme to use as a tool to ensure that holders of hackney carriage and private hire licences were compliant with the requirements they had upon them as licenced holders.

 

The Senior Licensing Practitioner, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), introduced the report and in doing so informed the Committee that other local authorities had introduced penalty point schemes as an additional mechanism for dealing with minor offences and acts of non-compliance, where there was no impending risk to the travelling public.  A penalty point scheme was used in order to assist them in addressing low level breaches of regulations and to ensure that licensed drivers remained compliant.

 

The holders of hackney carriage and private hire licences issued by the Council were subject to a number of legal requirements and licence conditions which governed how they conducted their business.

 

WRS, who acted on behalf of the Council, were responsible for ensuring that licence holders complied with these legal requirements and were responsible for taking appropriate action when dealing with any licence holders who had committed offences or had failed to comply with their legal requirements.

 

Currently there were a number of options available to officers from WRS when dealing with offences or acts of non-compliance, as summarised:-

 

·         Verbal warnings

·         Written warnings

·         Formal cautions

·         Prosecution

·         Referral to a meeting of a Licensing Sub-Committee

 

The way in which offences and acts of non-compliance were dealt with by officers from WRS was dependant on the circumstances of each individual case; whilst having appropriate regard to the Regulator’s Code and relevant enforcement polices in order to ensure that any action taken was proportionate.

 

The introduction of a penalty point scheme would not affect the Council’s ability to take formal enforcement action for any offence or act of non-compliance as every case would continue to be considered on its own merits.  A penalty point scheme would not be an appropriate mechanism for dealing with serious offences or acts of non-compliance.

 

Appendix 1 to the report detailed a draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme for Redditch Borough Council for consideration by Members.  Should Members approve the draft penalty point scheme, officers from WRS would then conduct further consultation on the penalty point scheme with licence holders and other relevant organisations.  The results of the consultation exercise would be presented to a future meeting of the Licensing Committee.

 

In response to questions from Members, the Senior Licensing Practitioner, WRS, informed the Committee that a penalty point scheme would enable officers to build up evidence.  Any licensed driver who continued to breach their conditions and were in receipt of a number of penalty points under the scheme would be brought before a meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee.

 

The Chair stated that she had welcomed the report as she had received verbal complaints with regard to licenced drivers.  The Chair thanked the Senior Licensing Practitioner, WRS, for presenting the report.

 

RESOLVED that

 

(a)  the draft Redditch Borough Council Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Points Scheme, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report, be approved for the purpose of consultation with licence holders and other relevant organisations; and

 

(b)  that, as detailed in the preamble above, following consultation with licence holders and other relevant organisations the consultation results be presented to a future meeting of the Licensing Committee.

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