Issue - meetings

To consider the Government Statutory Taxi and PHV Standards Guidance report.

The Licensing and Compliance Manager presented the report on the Government’s statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) guidance. He said there were a number of areas that had been identified for improvement, including decision making, safeguarding training and wider consultation with the Trade and community groups.

The Chair explained that the policy implemented in 2019 was largely in line with the Government guidance, although the revision would impact on the way in which the Council communicated with other Local Authorities regarding UDC drivers operating outside of the district. The issue of “County Lines” was also highlighted in the guidance and measures would also need to be put into place to ensure there was adequate control.

 In response to a question from Councillor Light, the Chair said the costs of the measures would be borne by service users, not residents.

The Licensing and Compliance Manager said he did not anticipate any financial issues; whilst there may be a small uplift in costs to facilitate safeguarding training, this would be covered by operators rather than individual drivers.

In response to a question from Councillor Loughlin regarding criminality checks on overseas drivers, the Licensing and Compliance Manager said a certificate of good character was requested at the point of application, which was issued by the individual’s national embassy.

The Chair added that all convictions were taken into account when issuing a taxi or PHV license, regardless of whether the conviction had been served, or how long ago the offence had taken place. The priority of the licensing team was the safety of the user and all drivers had to be fit and proper to attain a license. 

The Legal Services Manager concurred and said the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 did not apply in the determination of licensing applications.

RESOLVED to adopt the Government’s new Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Standards in full.