Agenda item - Amendments to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Points Scheme - Results of Consultation

Agenda item

Amendments to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Points Scheme - Results of Consultation

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report which provided details of the consultation exercise carried out on the revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme.

 

The Senior Practitioner (Licensing), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), presented the report and in doing so provided a brief synopsis for the benefit of newly elected Members.

 

In November 2017 the Council implemented a Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme, following a decision made by Licensing Committee Members to implement such a scheme.

 

The basic principle of the scheme was that individuals that were found to have committed relatively minor offences or acts of non-compliance had a number of penalty points logged against their licensing records held by the authority.

 

If an individual accumulated a given number of penalty points, within a defined period, this triggered an automatic referral of the licence holder to a meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee, whereby Members would consider whether the licence holder remained a fit and proper person to hold the relevant licence.

 

The scheme enabled officers to deal quickly and efficiently with minor compliance issues and helped to identify those that were regularly not acting in compliance with their licensing requirements, so that more serious action could be considered against these individuals in a targeted and proportionate way.

 

The Senior Practitioner (Licensing), WRS, continued and informed the Committee that on 12th November 2018, Licensing Committee Members received a report which provided an update on the operation of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme.  Following consideration of the report, Licensing Committee Members requested that a further report be provided with a view to amending the penalty points scheme to include reference to drivers leaving engines running unnecessarily whilst their vehicle was stationery on a public road.

 

A further report was presented at the Licensing Committee meeting held on 18th March 2019.  Following consideration of the report, Members requested that officers carried out a consultation on the draft revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme; with licence holders, other relevant organisations and more widely, as detailed at paragraph 3.14 in the report.  In addition the consultation was available to view and respond to via an online version hosted on the Council’s website and publicity was provided via the local press and social media channels.

 

Appendix 1 to the report detailed the consultation survey which commenced in May 2019 and concluded on 26th July 2019.  The consultation survey included a copy of the draft revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme.

 

The Senior Practitioner (Licensing), WRS, drew Members’ attention to the six responses received to the consultation, as detailed at paragraphs 3.17 to 3.22 and also detailed at Appendices 2 and 3 to the report.

 

Following on from the consultation, Appendix 4 to the report detailed the revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme. 

 

In response to questions from Members, the Senior Practitioner (Licensing), WRS, commented that the response to the consultation from Dodford with Grafton Parish Council provided no explanation, rationale or evidence as to why they wanted their suggestions included.

 

In response to further questions from Members with regard to the suggestion from one of the WRS, Licensing Officers in respect of ‘using a vehicle with defective tyres’.

 

The Senior Practitioner (Licensing), WRS, stated that licensed drivers were responsible for checking their tyres on a regular basis.  However, licensing officers would also normally rely on the test centre to pick up defective tyres.  WRS officers also carried out spot checks on licensed vehicles and used a tyre tread depth gauge.  The 6 penalty points suggested by officers would be consistent with Redditch Borough Council’s, Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme.  However, it was the decision of Licensing Committee Members to determine the number of penalty points to be issued for each defective tyre. 

 

In response to the Chairman, the Senior Practitioner (Licensing), WRS, stated that should Members decide to amend the points applicable to ‘Using a vehicle with defective tyres’ or points applicable on any other items listed under the ‘Schedule – Tariff of Points issued for Offences / Breaches’; the scheme would not be subject to a further consultation.

 

Following further discussion, whereby Members agreed to amend the draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme as follows:

 

·         26 Obstructing an authorised officer or constable – 4 points applicable.

 

·         27  Failing to comply with a requirement properly made by an authorised

officer or constable – 4 points applicable.

 

·         34 Using a vehicle with defective tyres – 4 points (per tyre) applicable.

 

The Chairman thanked the Senior Practitioner (Licensing), WRS, for presenting his report.

 

RESOLVED that subject to the amendments as detailed in the pre-amble above, the revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme, be approved.

 

Supporting documents: