Agenda item

(In accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct, Councillor Mohammed left the Chamber for consideration of the item.)

Joanne McIntosh introduced the report which included the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers Handbook, setting out current Council policy and practice, and sought agreement for both adopting the Handbook and updating it as a ‘living document’ to include future policies such as Child Sexual Exploitation.  The Handbook would be available for view on the Council’s website and had been developed primarily as a reference document for taxi drivers and members of the Licensing team.

Cllr Pengelly stated that as Portfolio Holder for Marketing Communications, he agreed that the document should be made more user-friendly for the Council’s website.  Cllr Howard expressed concern that it was too long to navigate on the website and stated that paper copies should be considered.

Cllr Kingsbury advised that complaints had been received from local residents that the new taxi vehicles, which could accommodate people who used wheelchairs, were too difficult for some members of the elderly to safely climb inside and suggested that there should be a balance to enable smaller vehicles to also be compliant as new vehicles on the taxi rank.  It was asked when it was intended for the Committee to review the minimum requirement for new taxi vehicles, noting that the Council was due to adopt Emission 6 environmental standards from 2022.  Joanne McIntosh stated that the Licensing team would be asked to circulate the minimum specification for new taxi vehicles to Members of the Committee, and it was suggested that the Committee receive a paper on the specification at its meeting in January 2018.  Cllr Eastwood noted that some requirements would be set at a national level and others would be local and discretionary.  From a legal perspective, the Council was required to ensure that the fleet was accessible to disabled people and that the current policy had inadvertently led to drivers purchasing the most cost effective vehicle which had met the specification.

Cllr Howard asked a question relating to the work of the Taxi Licensing Sub-Committee, as to whether the Sub-Committee could set a period for which a licence was to be revoked or suspended for, and it was agreed that it was not reasonable to set an indefinite period of time.  In some cases, the revocation or suspension would be set until the conclusion of a Court case.

Cllr Howard added that there had been issues caused by drivers being refused a licence by one authority, successfully being granted a licence at a neighbouring authority, and then seeking to work in the original area where the original application had been declined.  It was noted that the matter would be assisted by the Surrey-wide adoption of a Convictions Policy to ensure consistency across the County.  Officers also attempted to monitor whether a Woking licenced taxi driver was working outside of the Borough.

The Committee agreed that the Handbook should be adopted and updated as necessary with further policies agreed by the Council.                                                                               LIC17-002

Resolved

That  (i)      the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Taxi Drivers Handbook, attached as appendix 1 to the report, be introduced as detailed in the report; and

          (ii)     the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Taxi Drivers Handbook shall be updated (when appropriate) to reflect the adoption, revocation or amendment of policy and practice by the Council in respect of the Council’s Licensing functions.