Agenda item

Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Age Limits and Testing Arrangements - Consultation Responses

Meeting of Licensing Committee, Monday 27th March 2023 6.00 p.m. (Item 19/22)

Minutes:

Following on from the Licensing Committee meeting held on 19^th September 2022, whereby Members approved for the purpose of consultation, the proposals to amend parts of the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Policy; with regard to vehicle age limits and testing arrangements for licensed vehicles.

Members were asked to consider the responses received to the consultation, as detailed at Appendix 2 to the report; the suggested Vehicle Age Limits, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report; and the draft, revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, as detailed at Appendix 3 to the report.

The Principal Officer (Licensing), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), informed the Committee that as detailed in the report; at the Licensing Committee meeting held on 14^th March 2022, the Committee approved the adoption of a new Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy which took effect on 1^st September 2022.

Towards the end of that meeting, Members also discussed the Work

Programme for 2021/22 and requested that reports be presented to future

meetings of the Committee as follows: -

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; and
The number of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAVs) licensed by the Council, ways to incentivise drivers to purchase WAVs and an estimate of the number of WAVs the district needed.

As detailed in the preamble above, at the meeting held on 19^th September 2022,

Members of the Licensing Committee considered a report as presented by

officers to try and address those requests and to set out the details of some

of the dialogue that had taken place between officers and representatives of

hackney carriage and private hire drivers licensed by the Council in respect of

the current vehicle age policies.

Members’ attention was drawn to paragraph 3.6 in the report and pages 18

and19 of the report, which highlighted the Council’s current policy on the

licensing of vehicles to be used as a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle

and the requirements in respect of the age of the vehicle.

Currently licensed vehicles that were less than 7 years of age were required to

be examined at the Council’s Depot once per year, just before a licence for the

vehicle was granted or renewed. Vehicles that were over the age of 7 years

were also required to have a further examination 6 months after the licence for

the vehicle had taken effect.

Following consideration of the officer’s report, Members had requested that

officers carried out a consultation on amending the vehicle age limits to those

detailed at Appendix 1to the report. Members further requested that officers

carried out a consultation on amending the vehicle testing arrangements as

follows: -

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)

A consultation exercise was undertaken between 4^th January 2023 and 3^rd

March 2023. An online consultation survey was also used in order to enable

people to give their views on the proposed amendments. A link to the

consultation survey was also provided via the Council’s website and advertised

via social media channels. Paragraph 3.17 in the report detailed who the

consultation was sent to.

The responses received to the questions that were asked in the consultation

survey were detailed at Appendix 2 to the report. The majority of those who

had responded to the consultation were supportive of amendments being made

to parts of Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing

Policy in respect of vehicle age limits, as proposed. Opinion was however more

divided on whether or not the Council should amend the vehicle testing

amendments to require an additional inspection for vehicles over 10 years of

age.

Notwithstanding the mixed opinions expressed on this proposal, officers still

believe that requiring extra examinations of these older vehicles provided

an additional safeguard for the public, which would help to counterbalance any

potential risk that might be posed by relaxing vehicle age limits for hackney

carriage and private hire vehicles.

The Principal Officer (Licensing), WRS, highlighted that Members were now

being asked to consider the responses received during the consultation

exercise.

Appendix 3 to the report was the draft revised version of the Council’s Hackney

Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, which incorporated the

amendments, as proposed, during the consultation exercise. The parts of the

policy that had been amended were highlighted for ease of reference.

The Principal Officer (Licensing), WRS responded to questions from the

Committee with regard to MOT’s and vehicles being examined at the Council’s

Depot, and in doing so stated that, not all local authorities had this facility ‘in

house’. There had been some recent issues with capacity at the depot during

January / February 2023, with some drivers struggling to get MOT tests and

retest appointments at the depot. As suggested in the consultation responses

and should Members be minded to; officers could carry out a further

consultation with regard to drivers being able to use other MOT test centres

and not just the Council’s depot.

Some Members commented that they had read the questions asked and the

responses received to the consultation in some detail, more specifically the

complaint raised with regard to additional testing and had found their argument

quite persuasive. As were the comments received about being able to use

other MOT test centres, since some drivers had had to wait for an MOT test

appointment at the Council’s depot.

Some Members further commented that they were reluctant to allow tests at other MOT test stations for vehicles licensed in the District. Plus, they could see no reason why a vehicle over 12 years of age should require further testing, as suggested in the officer’s report; since modern vehicles were built to last longer. Members further highlighted that the majority of age criteria vehicles currently presented at Sub-Committee (taxi) Hearings had been in a good condition and that Members had granted the majority of age criteria applications.

Following on from this discussion an Alternative Recommendation was proposed by Councillor A. D. Kriss and seconded by Councillor P. J. Whittaker.

The Alternative Recommendation was with regard to vehicle age requirements as follows:-

Vehicles under 7 years of age

Examined once per year

(just before a licence is granted or renewed)

Vehicles over 7 years of age

Examined twice per year

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

It was further agreed that in order to reflect the amended recommendation, that the draft revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, be amended as follows:-

Page 73 of the main agenda report -

Paragraph 3.15.3 be amended to read:-

Paragraph 3.15.4 to be removed.

“Where a vehicle is more than ten years of age on the date the licence was issued, it must also be presented for an inspection within a four-week period beginning on the date four months after the licence issue date and again within a four-week period beginning on the date eight months after the licence issue date”.

Page 97 of the main agenda report -

Paragraph C.19 be amended to read:-

“Where a vehicle is more than seven years of age on the date the licence was issued, it must also be presented for further inspection within a four-week period beginning on the date six months after the licence issue date. The age of the vehicle will be calculated based on the date of first registration shown on the vehicle registration certificate (VC5)”.

Paragraph C.20 be removed.

Page 101 of the main agenda report -

Paragraph D.19 to read:-

Paragraph D.20 to be removed.

RESOLVED that subject to the amendments, as detailed in the preamble above, the draft revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, as detailed at Appendix 3 to the report, be approved with effect from 1^st April 2023.

Supporting documents: