Meeting documents

To consider the report attached.

In July 2016 the Licensing Committee agreed a number of changes that they wished to be included in a future Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy for Aylesbury Vale. Subsequent to this a letter (attached as an appendix to the report) had been sent to all operators summarising the views of the committee.

The major area of concern for Members was the improvement of the licensed fleet and the age of the vehicles. Currently age limits had beenset at 6 years for new vehicles with an upper age limit of 10 years, subject to some exemptions. A proposal of a single age limit of 7 years had been presented to the trade.

The response to the letter had been generally negative, with the majority either asking for existing age limits to continue or to increase them. Hackney carriage drivers had also responded, but it had always been envisaged that purpose built hackney carriages would be subject to an exemption.

At the same time that the consultation was taking place, Bucks County Council had introduced parking meters in Aylesbury Town Centre which had also caused disquiet amongst the hackney carriage trade. Some of the drivers had subsequently joined the GMB Union who made a representation in respect of the proposed age limits. The National Private Hire Association (NPHA) had also made a representation and copies of both were attached to the report as an appendix. However, with the exception of the response from the NPHA, none of the other responses offered any positive or credible alternative suggestions to improve the quality of the licensed fleet. Therefore a further letter was sent to all operators summarising the views of the NPHA and suggesting either a single lower age limit or a single upper age limit. The letter was also attached as an appendix to the report.

A meeting with the trade was held in December 2016. The consensus of opinion arising from that meeting was that AVDC implement a strictly applied upper age limit of 10 years subject to some exceptions. The exceptions being:-

·         Purpose built Hackney Carriages

·         Specialist vehicles designed for wheelchair access; and

·         Executive vehicles.

It had been proposed that the above vehicles be subject to an upper age limit of 15 years. The Hackney Carriage Association had also requested that AVDC reconsider the hackney carriage specification as there was now a broader range of vehicles that met the accessibility criteria but were not European Whole Type Approved.

However, following discussions with the Chairman of the Licensing Committee, it had been felt that a compromise had not been reached and it would be likely to be unacceptable to the Members of the Licensing Committee. A further proposal had been made to the trade, endorsing the principle of an upper age limit but reducing it to a maximum of 8 years. Further representations from the Aylesbury Private Hire Association, the Aylesbury Hackney Carriage Association and the GMB Union were attached as appendices to the report.

It was acknowledged that the age of vehicles was a relatively crude measure of quality and condition of the fleet, however it did provide a standard which could be used to improve the fleet and define the boundaries of acceptability. Age limits were adopted by a number of authorities but they varied considerably. Examples from other authorities were outlined in the report. It appeared that that more authorities adopted a single or higher age limit than a duel age limit policy. The case for either lower or higher age limits was outlined more fully in the report.

It was acknowledged that AVDC’s current requirement that hackney carriages be European Whole Type Approved was problematical to the trade and AVDC. It was therefore proposed that a new specification should be drawn up to allow for the licensing of purpose built taxis that would meet all accessibility requirements.

It was recognised that there was a need for rigorous enforcement. Vehicle inspections at Pembroke Road were effective in ensuring hackney carriage and private hire vehicles were mechanically sound. However, enforcement operations often revealed that vehicles were not necessarily compliant with the full conditions of their licence, and often resulted in penalty points for the driver. It was also noted that failures during testing at Pembroke Road were very rare, however almost every vehicle received an ‘advisory’. The majority of these ‘advisories’ amounted to a breach of conditions of licence.

Therefore it was proposed that annual inspections be carried out in two stages. The vehicle would be subject to a full mechanical test and a further condition check be carried out by a member of the taxi licensing team. Any breach would result in a short notice period, 2 – 4 weeks, to resolve any issues, after which the vehicle would be suspended if the issues were not resolved. It was hoped that ultimately this would result in an improvement to the quality of the licensed fleet. The increased inspection would also apply to specialist vehicles.

The licensing team would continue to carry out kerbside inspections along with partners such as Thames Valley Police, Bucks County Council and VOSA.

One local Member, J Ward, several members of the trade and a representative of GMB read out statements to the committee.

Members sought clarification on a number of points including:-

·         Ages of the current fleet of vehicles

·         Ages of specialist cars i.e. those used for weddings, chauffeur work etc.;

·         The need for vehicles to be presentable as well as road worthy;

·         The number of vehicles receiving advisory notes;

·         The number of diesel vehicles in use;

·         Drivers moving towards "green" i.e. hybrid vehicles;

·         Capacity problems at Pembroke Road, and whether another MOT station could be used as well, or extending the hours which Pembroke Road was open; and

·         The use of enhanced inspections and temporary suspension notices;

Although exact figures couldn’t be given at the meeting regarding a number of the above points, it was confirmed that AVDC currently licensed over 1000 vehicles. Of these, over half were under 6 years of age.

RESOLVED –

1.    That the age limit for private hire vehicles be set at 10 years

2.    That the age limit for all other vehicles; Hackney Carriages, Wheel Chair Accessible Vehicles and Executive vehicles be set at 15 years.

3.    That additional licensing checks be introduced at the Council’s vehicle inspection centre at Pembroke Road in line with the proposals as set out in the report;

4.    That the Licensing Manager prepare and agree with the Chairman of the Licensing Committee a Hackney Carriage specification which would replace the requirements for Hackney Carriages to be European Whole Type Approved; and

5.    That the Licensing Manager in consultation with the Chairman of the Licensing Committee prepare an implementation plan with transitional arrangements.