Meeting documents

Venue: Large & Small Committee Room, King George V House, King George V Road, Amersham

Contact: Richard Harris  01494 732010; email:  rharris@chiltern.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Election of Chairman

To agree the appointment of Councillor N Shepherd as Chairman of the Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year, as noted at Annual Council on 21 May 2013.

Minutes:

RESOLVED -

 

That the appointment of Councillor N Shepherd as Chairman of the Committee for the remainder of the Municipal year, as agreed at Annual Council on 21 May 2013, be noted.

 

2.

Appointment of Vice-Chairman

To agree the appointment of Councillor M Vivis as Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year, as noted at Annual Council on 21 May 2013.

Minutes:

RESOLVED -

 

That the appointment of Councillor M Vivis as Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the remainder of the Municipal year, as agreed at Annual Council on 21 May 2013, be noted.

 

3.

Minutes

To sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 14 February 2013.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 February 2013, copies of which had been previously circulated, were agreed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

 

4.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

 

5.

Chiltern Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Following the consultation in September 2012 with interested parties and the work undertaken by the Task and Finish Group, the Chiltern Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy has been further revised.  In November 2012, the Licensing and Regulation Committee discussed the proposals and set up a Task and Finish Group.  This group met three times and considered in detail all the concerns that had been raised by the feedback, and also allowed the trade to discuss further any issues. The various consultation responses and comments were appended to the report.  Amendments made to the policy were discussed during a final feedback session in April 2013. The final draft policy was considered and in particular, the 12 key policy points:

 

Policy 1 - introduction of Passenger Assistant Training Scheme for all new applicants and existing licensees.

 

It was proposed that the training be carried out with Bucks County Council (BCC) Transport Team every 4 years, to be phased in gradually for existing drivers for all renewals by 2014.  This training was already required for all drivers on Home to School contracts and would support drivers in working on these contracts and present a more consistent approach.

 

The Committee were concerned about the requirement for both hackney carriage and private hire vehicle drivers to assist passengers with the loading and unloading of luggage into and out of the vehicle and recommended that this should be qualified with the words “reasonable assistance” to ensure that drivers were not being asked to carry out tasks beyond their own physical capability.

 

This policy was then agreed by the Committee.

 

Policy 2 - removal of the requirement that a Hackney Carriage Driver who applies to obtain a Private Hire Driver Licence requires an additional medical examination certificate and vice versa.

 

This was welcomed by the Trade, supported by the Task and Finish Group and agreed by the Committee.

 

Policy 3 - A reduction of 25% on the vehicle licence fee for any vehicle that falls within Band A, B or C for road tax purposes (low emissions).

 

The Committee recommended the insertion of “or equivalent DVLA classification” to cover future advances. This policy was then agreed by the Committee.

 

Policy 4a - Amendments to wording on renewals and new application forms.

 

The Committee generally agreed to the proposals, pointing out that the instructions on completing every question on the form should be made clear, but requested more information about the new form. Members asked to see the form at a future committee meeting.

 

Policy 4B - Review of the criminal convictions and behaviour policy for new and existing drivers.

 

The committee requested that the offences listed in the policy be numbered so that they could be quoted clearly on decision notices issued by sub-committees. 

 

Policy 5 - Introduction of a system for the monitoring of contraventions.

 

The Task and Finish Group had developed a monitoring enforcement tool for persistent offenders.  Its purpose was to highlight those drivers who have a pattern of contraventions, i.e. who were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.