Agenda item

The Committee received a report on the update on Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Enforcement. The report was for the Committee to note. The report focussed on the enforcement activity for the reference period 1st October 2022 to 31st March 2023. The report provides an overview of how the Policy is applied in practice, with a summary of application outcomes, complaints, investigations, and other enforcement activity carried out by the Council’s Licensing Service. 

The report highlighted the following information for the reference period:

·       2188 hackney carriage and private hire vehicles were licensed with the Buckinghamshire Council as at 31^st March 2023. 

·       1330 licence applications for vehicles licences were received, of this, 618 applications were for new licences and 712 were applications to renew existing licences.

·       21 vehicle licence applications were refused as the vehicles concerned failed to meet the Council’s Policy requirement in relation to prohibiting category S insurance write offs.

·       86 vehicle licence applications were rejected for a variety of reasons, but mainly as incorrect information had been provided on the application forms, incorrect supporting documents had been provided or the applicant had failed to pay the application fee. Encouragingly the number of vehicle applications being rejected has fallen significantly, by way of comparison during the first six months following the introduction of the new Policy in September 2021, 212 applications had beenrejected.

·       2916 hackney carriage and private hire drivers were licensed with Buckinghamshire Council as of 31^st March 2023.

·       The Council received 737 driver licence applications, 457 from new drivers and 280 from drivers applying to renew. Nine applications were refused on the basis that the Officers were not satisfied that the applicants could be considered fit and proper to be licensed. Sixty-six rejected applications were attributed to applicants failing to pay the application fee at the end of the onlineapplication.  This rejection process for non-payment of fees is fully automated and requires no input from council officers.

·       On 31st March 2023, 215 private hire vehicle operators were licenced with Buckinghamshire Council.

·       The Council had received 37 new and 12 renewal operator applications. Twenty applications had been rejected mainly due to applicants submitting multiple incomplete applications.

·       There were 163 recorded complaints received by the Licensing Service, the main reasons for complaint were behaviour, driving standards and parking. In addition to the complaints, sixty investigations were instigated in respect of drivers and 14 in respect of operators. Many of the investigations had been completed. Following an investigation, five drivers had their licences revoked. Sixteen drivers had their licences suspended.

·       349 vehicles were suspended for a variety of reasons.  In accordance with legal provision, once served with a suspension notice, the vehicle proprietor had 21 days to rectify the issue before the suspension took effect. For more serious matters, vehicle licences could be suspended with immediate effect or revoked. Licences suspended with immediate effect would be deemed revoked after two months if the issue of concern had not been satisfactorily resolved. Thirty-two vehicle licences and one operator licence had beenrevoked.

·       Three appeal cases had been heard at the MagistratesCourt.

Members were invited to ask questions of Officers. A Member noted that since most complaints were in respect of driver standards, what did the Council do to investigate driver standards to ensure they are improved?  Secondly the Member asked for clarity over the number of complaints received and those that were investigated Officers informed the Committee that the 60 recorded investigations were in addition to the 163 recorded complaints.  All complaints received were investigated to a full conclusion. Driver standards were investigated by thorough investigation, looking at corroborating evidence such as witnesses or CCTV and patterns of behaviour. All complaint investigations were recorded and kept on file and if a pattern of behaviour was present then this would lend more significant weight to a decision as to a driver’s suitability. As part of the application process, all drivers had to undergo mandatory training and assessments with a third-party company including an out on the road test, answering questions on the Council Policy and knowledge of the Highway code and all drivers had to complete the mandatory safeguarding training every threeyears.

A Member asked how many times top offending drivers who commit a serious offence and have been revoked, manage to get their licence back and if there was a zero tolerance to prevent the offence happening again? There also seemed to be two category types of vehicle condition, it was worrying to hear that some vehicles had no first aid kits and/or fire extinguishers and were given the opportunity to rectify this, was the Council too lenient. The Officer reassured the Committee that there was a very robust policy in place with very clear guidelines. Any driver licence that had been revoked for very serious offences would not get their licence back. There were clear rehabilitation periodsstated inthe policy.The criminalhistory wasalso checkedthrough anenhanced DBS.

Where vehicles were found not to have first aid kits or fire extinguishers, the drivers were given 21 days to rectify and very often this would be done immediately and remedied very quickly.

It was reported that Buckinghamshire Council had signed up to the national register of revocations, refusals and suspensions which is checked prior to issuing licences. This would give the team the opportunity to speak to the other authority's to gain information and knowledge to aid with decision making. This was now a mandatory scheme, but the Council had been on Board from thebeginning.

All drivers were required to be registered on the DBS Update Service.  Whilst a driver was expected to inform the authority of any offences, this information would also be obtained through regular checks of the DBS Update Service.

A Member asked that of the 163 recorded complaints, 60 were related to the personal approach and attitude of the driver. Only 60 complaints had been investigated of the 163, so what actions had been taken for the rest of the complaints?  Were there specific criteria in place for those complaints investigated? The Officer informed the Committee that all complaints received were investigated and then additionally further investigations took place that were instigated by other sources such as intelligence from police, proactive enforcement activities, and information from applications submitted. In the report time, 163 complaints were investigated with an addition of 60 from othersources.

A Member commented that the total number of vehicles licenced was just over 2000 and 1300 were in the last six months, was there a point at which the Council stopped issuing licences or did the Council continue to issue licences and drivers operated in neighbouring counties. Officers informed the Committee that driver licences were issued for three years and vehicle licences for one year. There were a few peak points within the year. If a valid application was received, it had to be considered. The council has no power to limit the number of private hire vehicles it l issues, but legislation does allow the number of hackney carriages to be limited.  Anecdotally private hire operators are actually saying there are not enough licensed vehicles.  In terms of working in other areas, the Deregulation Act allows operators licensed in one area to an operator in another area.  There was a joint enforcement protocol with Milton Keynes, working together to enforce.

A Member asked if residents with a guide dog were being refused and if there were any complaints about this. The Officer reported that there were very few complaints received where a resident with a guide dog had been refused a taxi. Drivers were given disability awareness training as part of the mandatory training to raise awareness. There had been some test purchasing by volunteers with assistance dogs and last time there had been a 100% success rate.

Finally, it was asked since there was no requirement for child seats, was there any guidance for drivers. Officers commented that this was encouraged but it was the responsibility of the parents.

There was a request to operators to have more female drivers.

Resolved: The Committee noted the contents of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Enforcement report.