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Agenda item

Amendment to Current Vehicle Requirements for Hackney Carriage (Taxi) and Private Hire Vehicles

To approve the proposed amendment to the current Hackney Carriage (Taxi) and Private Hire Licensing Policy in relation to vehicle requirements, as set out at Paragraph 3.2 of the report, for a 12-week consultation with licence holders.

Minutes:

15.1          Attention was drawn to the report of the Licensing Operations and Development Team Leader, circulated at Pages No. 1-4, which asked Members to approve the proposed amendment to the current Hackney Carriage (Taxi) and Private Hire Licensing Policy in relation to vehicle requirements, as set out at Paragraph 3.2 of the report, for a 12 week consultation with licence holders.

15.2          The Licensing Operations and Development Team Leader advised that, where vehicles were converted from goods vehicles (N1) to passenger vehicles (M1), they should obtain a Basic Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) test at a Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) approved test station.  In autumn 2021, the Interim Licensing Team Leader had discovered that a number of licensed private hire vehicles were N1 category vehicles as seen on the V5 logbook; this meant they had not been through any testing to ensure they were safe which meant there was a risk to public safety.  All licence holders had been written to in October 2021 informing them of the requirement to obtain updated V5s to demonstrate that the conversions were safe and complied with M1 standards; however, representations made by the trade stated that the DVLA was reluctant to update V5s and that this request could not be met.  Counsel advice had subsequently been sought which was clear that the Council should satisfy itself as quickly as possible that the vehicles were safe for use, whilst also updating its policy so the requirement was adhered to when licensing vehicles. 

15.3          Throughout June/July 2022, all relevant vehicles had been tested by an approved garage in Gloucestershire so all were safe to be on the road but a Basic IVA needed to be obtained from the DVSA; whilst the check carried out by the garage was to IVA standard, the garage was not DVSA approved.  It was proposed to include this as a requirement within the Hackney Carriage (Taxi) and Private Hire Licensing Policy and all licence holders had been made aware of that.  The proposed wording of the requirement was set out at Paragraph 3.2 of the report and included a list of acceptable approvals e.g. new vehicles may have a European Whole Vehicle Type approval which was a different type of document where conversion had taken place; this wording reflected that within the policies of the other licensing authorities in Gloucestershire.

15.4          With regard to insurance, a Member asked whether the Council would be liable if a vehicle without the right paperwork was involved in an accident.  In response, the Licensing Operations and Development Team Leader clarified that there was no legal requirement to obtain a Basic IVA.  As the vehicles had been tested and were now deemed as being safe to be on the road, Officers were satisfied this was not a risk to the authority. It was noted that licence holders had also been asked to notify their insurance companies so they were aware that the vehicles had been converted. 

15.5          It was

RESOLVED           That the proposed amendment to the current Hackney Carriage (Taxi) and Private Hire Licensing Policy in relation to vehicle requirements, as set out at Paragraph 3.2 of the report, be APPROVED for a 12 week consultation with licence holders.

Supporting documents: