Agenda item

We welcomed members of the public representing the taxi and private hire services.  The Legal Assistant explained to the public that the meeting was not a hearing on the issue of the age of vehicles.  There had been a consultation period and the end of the period all had had access to the information.  The Chair had agreed to invite the public to comment, via one representative, relating to issues raised in the objection letters.

The Principal Licensing Officer presented a report in order for Members to consider the proposal for Taxi and Private Hire Policy Conditions 2016, further to the recently completed consultation with the trade. 

Members were required to consider the following recommendations:

1.    Members approve the new policy and conditions to come into force on 1st April 2016 for hackney carriage / private hire except for the age policy of vehicles, whereby a decision is to be made as per below.

2.    Members determine and approve one of the following options in relation to age policy of vehicles;                       

a)    The proposed age policy: New vehicle to be granted a licence if under 5 years and will not be relicensed over 10 years. Older vehicles may be licensed in exceptional circumstances e.g. specialist, stretched limousines and historic vehicles. Vehicles currently licensed with MCC during the period 1/4/2015 – 31/3/16 which are 8 years or over may continue with their licence to up until to 2 years with effect from 1st April 2016. Testing of the vehicles to be conducted once a year after the vehicle is a year old, vehicles over 5 years to be tested twice a year and vehicles over 8 years to be tested three times a year.

b)    As 2(a) above but with a longer phasing in period from 1st April 2016 – to be agreed.

c)    As 2(a) above with the addition that Wheelchair Accessible vehicles will not be relicensed over an extended period than the proposed 10 years – to be agreed.

d)    As 2(c) above but with a longer phasing in period from 1st April 2016 – to be agreed.

e)    As 2(a) above with a longer period (greater than 10 years) before a vehicle will not be relicensed – to be agreed.

f)     As 2(e) above but with a longer phasing in period from 1st April 2016 – to be agreed.

g)    As 2(a) above but with no limitation on relicensing i.e. new vehicles to be granted a licence if under 5 years.

h)    To retain the existing licensing regime with no age restrictions, with testing of vehicles to be conducted once a year after the vehicle is a year old, vehicles over 5 years to be tested twice a year and vehicles over 10 years to be tested three times a year.

The Chair introduced Tracy Tanner and Mike Horner who agreed to speak on behalf of the members of public.  The following points were highlighted:

·         It was necessary to keep costs down to ensure the costs of service were kept to a minimum.

·         Increase costs would make the service unaffordable for many service users.

·         Home to school vehicles used a very low amount of mileage, often less than a family car.

·         It was questioned if there had been a quality assessment and had all public been consulted.

·         Often disabled vehicles were only used in morning and afternoon for SEN.

·         Cost of a new SEN vehicle could be £52,000, and would take over seven years to recoup the investment unless the price of contract was doubled.

·         VOSA considers three MOTs per year for a vehicle with mileage of 6000 per year excessive.

·         Clarification was requested regarding badges and MOTs on trailers.

·         There was a policy to keep a spare vehicle to ensure service could be carried out at all times. Costs covered the spare vehicle.

With regards to the comment regarding trailers, the Principal Licensing Officer explained that where a trailer was attached to a vehicle which was always plated, eg. a taxi, the recommendation was that the trailer also be plated.  If the trailer was used with a private vehicle the plate could be removed, as it was not being used as a hackney carriage or private hire at that stage.

We were advised that the Equalities Impact Assessment had been carried out at the last hearing, and was referred to in the main report.

Members were invited to discuss.

Members noted the cost to purchase a new vehicle and the difficulty of selling the used vehicle.

Members agreed that as the taxis were regularly examined in accordance with regulations there were no issues of safety

It was noted that as a tourist County it was important to maintain minimum standards and present a god image.

We were advised that it was not appropriate to set the criteria per mileage rather than age due to administrative reasons as we could only test a vehicle three times per year.  Where a vehicle was suspected to be below standard a suspension notice could be issued.

Members discussed the use of banners and flags and agreed that there should be controls but should not be disallowed.  Therefore it was agreed that banners should be accepted subject to approval by the Licensing Department.

In terms of the recommendations the Committee unanimously agreed the following:

·         To approve the new policy and conditions to come into force on 1st April 2016 for hackney carriage / private hire licensees

·         To retain the existing licensing regime with no age restrictions, with testing of vehicles to be conducted once a year after the vehicle is a year old, vehicles over 5 years to be tested twice a year and vehicles over 10 years to be tested three times a year.