Agenda item

Members received a report setting out the outcome of the consultation exercise regarding the Councils Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Driver Licensing Policy, and the responses to the questions asked about amending the existing applicable age limits for vehicles.

The Licensing and Support Services Manager, Worcestershire Regulatory Service (WRS), presented the report and reminded Members that the consultation had been requested at the last Committee meeting in light of the volume of extension applications being received, and representations from the Redditch Taxi Association that the upper age limit for saloon type vehicles should be increased from nine years to ten years.  Under existing arrangements it was necessary for all applications falling outside the set age criteria to be referred to a meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee where Members would decide whether the individual vehicle was of an exceptional standard and could therefore be licenced even though it did not meet the policy requirements.

Members were referred to the current policy documents, namely the Hackney Carriage Vehicle Policy (Appendix 1) and the Private Hire Vehicle Policy (Appendix 2).

The consultation ran from 3^rd December 2018 to 31^st January 2019 and Members were referred to the list of consultees at paragraph 3.12 of the report and the responses as set out in Appendix 4.

It was noted that there were 186 responses to the consultation survey, of which 123 came from licence holders and the remaining 63 responses from other groups or individuals.  Of the 186 respondents between 171 and 179 had answered each question relating to the proposals to amend the vehicle age limits. 

The vast majority of respondents were in favour of making the proposed changes to the vehicle age limits although this had to be considered in the context that the majority of those who had replied to the consultation were licence holders.

Whilst on the subject of vehicle standards, the Licensing and Support Services Manager gave feedback to Members regarding a taxi enforcement evening that had taken place in Redditch on 22^nd February 2019.  A total of 31 vehicles had been checked, made up of 20 hackney carriage vehicles, and 11 private hire vehicles.  There were 18 roadside checks and 13 vehicles checked at the Council garage at Crossgates.  Four vehicles were suspended, although one was re-instated the same evening following the connection of his meter, and another was re-instated first thing on Monday morning following presentation of satisfactory documents.  The evening had resulted in multiple drivers receiving penalty points, with a grand total of 80 points being issued in relation to the evening’s inspections.

Examples of more minor issues encountered included roof signs that were not working, missing tariff cards, lack of no smoking signs and badges not being displayed.  More serious matters recorded included faulty lights, a vehicle with no water in the screen wash dispenser, a vehicle with a damaged tyre and a meter that was not connected.

In response to questions from Members, it was established that the sample of vehicles that had been stopped on the enforcement evening represented just under 10%of the vehicles licensed by the Council.

In discussing the report, Members expressed a range of opinions including:-

·       That the standard of vehicles falling outside the policy that came before the Licensing Sub-Committee was generally very high.

·       In light of this, the upper age limit for renewal should be raised to 10 years.

·       That the cost and time of holding Licensing Sub-Committee meetings, as referred to at paragraph 3.7 of the report, should not be a relevant factor; part of the role of the Licensing Sub-Committee was to make such determinations and it was not unreasonable to request drivers to bring their vehicles in for inspection if they wanted a licence for an additional year.

·       That notwithstanding the excellent standard of the vehicles presented to the Licensing Sub-Committee, if the age limits were extended the volume of applications would not decrease as drivers would continue to seek extensions outside policy.

·       That the current system of approving applications that were outside policy through the Licensing Sub-Committee worked well and should be allowed to continue without any changes.

·       That the best approach would be to continue with the current age limits as assessed by the Licensing Sub-Committee carrying out a subjective examination of each individual vehicle.

·       That the system as at present should continue but be kept under review.

Members were reminded by officers of the individual age limits in relation to which consultation had been carried out as summarised in the table on page 11 of the main agenda.  In light of the different changes that had been consulted on Members took a series of votes on the individual age limits and an overall vote on whether to make any changes to the two policies.

RESOLVED that

1.     On the issue of the age of new hackney carriage or private hire vehicles on first application, the age limit remain at 6 years.

2.     On the issue of the age of replacement hackney carriage or private hire vehicles on first application, the age limit remain at 6 years.

3.     On the issue of the upper age limit for renewal of hackney carriage or private hire vehicles, the age limit remain at 9 years.

4.     Having considered the outcome of the consultation exercise, that no changes be made to the Council’s current Hackney Carriage Vehicle Policy and Private Hire Vehicle Policy.