Agenda item

Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Age Limits

Meeting of Rescheduled from 19th September 2022, Licensing Committee, Thursday 29th September 2022 6.00 p.m. (Item 14/22)

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report on Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Age Limits.

The Principal Officer (Licensing), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS),

introduced the report and in doing explained that the meeting of the Licensing

Committee on 14^th March 2022, Licensing Committee Members had approved

the adoption of a new Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy

which had taken effect from 1^st September 2022.

Towards the end of that meeting, Members discussed the Work Programme for

2022/23 and had requested that a report be brought forward to future

Licensing Committee meetings in respect of: -

Revisiting the Council’s vehicle licensing policies with regard to standards and age criteria for electric vehicles.
Looking at incentives for drivers to purchase less polluting vehicles.
The number of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAVs) licensed by the Council; and ways to incentivise drivers to purchase WAVs and an estimate of the number of WAVs the district needed.

Therefore, the report before Members, was produced to try and address all of

the above requests and also to set out the details of some recent dialogue

between officers and representatives of hackney carriage and private hire

drivers licensed by the Council in respect of the current vehicle age policies in

place.

The Council’s current policy on the licensing of vehicles to be used as a

hackney carriage or private hire vehicle included the following requirements in

respect of the age of the vehicle.

Hackney Carriage Vehicles

Maximum age (when first licensed)

Maximum age at renewal of licence

7 years

10 years

(12 years if WAV)

Private Hire Vehicles

Maximum age (when first licensed)

Maximum age at renewal of licence

10 years

(12 years if WAV)

10 years

(12 years if WAV)

Currently these requirements were the same for every vehicle and did not take

into account of how the vehicle was fuelled.

The current policy did provide some incentive for drivers to licence WAVs as

they could be licensed for longer than a vehicle that cannot carry a wheelchair

user who remained seated in their wheelchair. However, there were still only 4

hackney carriages out of 88 and 1 private hire vehicle out of 16 licensed by the

Council that was WAVs.

Recent dialogue had taken place between officers and representatives of the

hackney carriage and private hire trade in which the following had been

highlighted: -

The price of second-hand vehicles had increased dramatically in recent years.
Licence holders were suffering financial difficulties as a result of the income lost during the coronavirus pandemic with many having used their savings to meet their day to day spending needs during this time.
Licensed vehicles were used significantly less than usual during 2020 and 2021 as a result of the travel and business restrictions imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The representatives of the hackney carriage and private hire trade had

requested that consideration be given to amending the current vehicle licensing

policies to relax the age limits currently imposed on vehicles licensed to be used

as hackney carriage or private hire vehicles.

Officers had drawn up some suggested vehicle age limits for consideration by

Licensing Committee Members. The suggested age limits were based on the

following principles: -

Incentivising the take up of less polluting vehicles.
Incentivising the take up of WAVs.
Recognising the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on hackney carriage and private hire licence holders.

The suggested age limits were detailed at Appendix 1 to the report.

Officers had suggested that if the vehicle age limits were amended to those

as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report, then the vehicle testing requirements

should be simultaneously amended as detailed at paragraph 3.15 of the

report.

If Members were minded to amend the current vehicle age limits and vehicle

examination requirements, this would involve amending the Council’s Hackney

Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy. Therefore, officers would advise

that proper consultation on the proposals was undertaken with licence holders

and other relevant stakeholders.

Members were informed that trade representatives were in agreement with the

vehicle testing requirements being amended, as detailed in paragraph 3.15 of

the report. Legislation restricted examinations to a maximum of 3 scheduled

examinations per year. However, officers were able to carry out random spot

checks on vehicles during any enforcement exercises.

Members were further informed that should such consultation be conducted

it would also provide an opportunity to try to establish how many wheelchair

accessible hackney carriage / private hire vehicles were likely to be required in

the district. Although this was not easy to ascertain, however, officers could

consult with the relevant groups in order to try and establish this information.

Therefore, Members were being asked to consider whether officers should

undertake a consultation exercise on proposals to amend the Council’s vehicle

age limits, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report and to amend the Council’s

vehicle testing requirements to those, as detailed in paragraph 3.15 of the

report.

Officers clarified that the age of a vehicle was taken from the date they were

first registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

Members commented that modern vehicles were more reliable and that newer

vehicles were more energy efficient and were manufactured to higher

standards.

Therefore with regard to vehicle testing, Members agreed the following:-

Vehicles under 7 years of age

Examined once per year

(just before a licence is granted or renewed)

Vehicles over 7 years of age and under 10 years of age

Examined twice per year

(just before a licence is granted or renewed and 6 months after the licence takes effect)

Vehicles over 10 years of age

Examined three times per year

(just before a licence is granted or renewed, 4 months after the licence takes effect and 8 months after the licence takes effect)

RESOLVEDthat officers undertake a consultation exercise on proposals to amend the Council’s vehicle age limits to those shown at Appendix 1 to the report, and to amend the Council’s vehicle testing requirements, as detailed in the table shown in the preamble above.

Supporting documents: