Agenda item

To approve the draft revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy for public consultation following the Working Group’s review.

21.1          The report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 8-80, asked Members to approve the draft revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy for public consultation following the Working Group’s review.

21.2           The Chair indicated that he had also chaired the Working Group which had met on three occasions since it had been established by the Licensing Committee at its meeting on 18 October 2018.  A lot of good work had been done to address some of the discrepancies between Tewkesbury Borough Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy and the policies of Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils whilst also ensuring that Tewkesbury Borough Council retained its own identity.  Representatives from the hackney carriage and private hire industry had been invited to attend the second meeting and one of the attendees had commented that he had never been asked to attend a Working Group meeting before which the Chair felt demonstrated that the Council’s principles of public engagement worked well.  The Environmental Health Manager went on to explain that, in order to make the policy clearer and more user-friendly - for Officers, Members and the taxi industry itself - the revised policy had been split into four separate documents, attached at Appendices 1-4.  Members were informed that any references to the Head of Service/Head of Place would be amended to the Senior Licensing Officer who was the decision-maker.  The main proposed changes were set out within the Officer report and he welcomed any questions.

21.3           A Member drew attention to Page No. 68, Paragraphs 5.11 and 5.13 of the policy which made reference to a premises licence and temporary event notice respectively and she indicated that these seemed to be taken from the wrong policy.  In response, the Senior Licensing Officer explained that taxi and private hire drivers were able to provide alcohol in their vehicles, for instance, in a limousine catering for hen or stag parties, and, in order to do so would require either a premises licence or a temporary event notice at the premises where the alcohol was actually sold e.g. the driver’s home.  The Member thanked the Officer for the explanation and indicated that this needed to be clarified in the policy.  A Member queried whether the policy allowed use of classic cars for a taxi service and confirmation was provided that this was covered under novelty vehicles; whilst the policy did give examples, a decision on what constituted a novelty vehicle was ultimately left to the discretion of the Senior Licensing Officer.

21.4           A Member drew attention to Page No. 20, which set out guidelines on the relevance of convictions, and noted that incidents had to be reported within a 24 hour period.  She expressed the view that it should specify who this had to be reported to e.g. the Police or the local authority.  The Environmental Health Manager undertook to look at the wording around this to ensure there was clarity.  With regard to the requirement for operators to retain records for six months, as referenced at Page No. 78, Paragraph 2.13 of the policy, a Member questioned whether this was likely to be reviewed in light of the child sex abuse cases associated with taxi drivers which had been reported nationally.  The Environmental Health Manager felt this was a very valid point and indicated that he would take legal advice on this following the meeting. 

21.5           In response to a Member query as to how long an applicant needed to reside in the area before being granted a private hire driver’s licence, the Senior Licensing Officer explained that applicants could be from anywhere in the country, they did not have to be a resident of Tewkesbury Borough and it would be unlawful to refuse an application for that reason; however, private hire operators must have a base within the borough.  On that basis, the Member questioned whether it would be prudent to introduce a knowledge test given that applicants may not be familiar with the area they were working in.  The Environmental Health Manager confirmed that this had been discussed by the Working Group and hackney carriage drivers were required to take a knowledge test but this was largely because fares were calculated on a meter and charges were based on mileage; private hire drivers did not generally have meters and agreed a price prior to the journey.  As the majority of drivers now used satellite navigation they did not need to rely on their own knowledge to reach a destination.  An informal assessment was carried out when speaking to potential drivers to ensure their English was of an appropriate standard, and this aspect had been strengthened in the revised policy, but it was not intended to introduce a requirement for private hire drivers to undergo a specific knowledge test.  A Member pointed out that, due to the rural nature of the borough, it was possible that drivers would know one area particularly well, e.g. Bishop’s Cleeve or Tewkesbury Town, but not necessarily other places within the borough.  A Member questioned if anything could be done to prevent operators from using their drivers’ addresses as their own registered address in order to obtain a licence to operate within the borough.  In response, the Senior Licensing Officer recognised that this was an issue for the licensing trade as a whole but, unfortunately, there was very little that could be done.  Operators were required to provide an address which was used by the licensing authority for correspondence and to inspect records etc. however, in terms of the latter, as records tended to be electronic, it was not always necessary to attend the property to physically view them.  A Member questioned whether operators were required to register their addresses for business use and was informed that the licensing authority would always advise applicants to seek consent from the planning department to register as a business address but there was no mechanism to ensure that happened and failing to do so did not necessarily mean that a licence would be refused.  The Environmental Health Manager indicated that, in his experience, if the business was being run from what was essentially an office in a property then planning permission was not required.  Notwithstanding this, if ancillary activities impacted upon the community – for instance noise at unsociable hours, mini-buses parked on the road and taxis parked on the public highway – this was something which could be discussed with operators and it was noted that Officers had a good relationship with the existing operators in the borough.

21.6           The Environmental Health Manager advised that, subject to approval by the Committee, it was intended to carry out a full public consultation and any comments received during that period would be brought back to the Committee for consideration.  Having considered the information provided and views expressed, it was

RESOLVED          That the draft revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy be APPROVED for public consultation subject to the following:

-       Page No. 20 – Relevance of Convictions – clarification to be provided as to who incidents should be reported to;

-       Page No. 68 – Paragraphs 5.11 and 5.13 to be amended to clarify how a premises licence and temporary event notice were relevant to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy; and,

-       Page No. 78 – Consideration to be given as to whether to extend the length of time operators were required to keep records in light of child sex abuse cases associated with taxi drivers which had been reported nationally.