After making it so expensive to get a license I suspect nobody is bothering. They have realised that the constant above inflation fee rises have made them too expensive compared to Rutland or Wolverhampton
otherwise nowt to see here
https://www.lincsonline.co.uk/grantham/news/knowledge-test-for-new-taxi-drivers-scrapped-9451620/People applying to become taxi drivers will no longer have to take a knowledge test to be licensed to work in South Kesteven.
Members of South Kesteven District Council approved and adopted a new Hackney carriage and private hire licensing policy which removes the requirement to take a knowledge test.
Under the new policy, the English test will continue to be mandatory but applicants will not have to pay for the first attempt, but they will have to pay for subsequent tests if they fail the first one.
Coun Philip Knowles.
New drivers will be reduced from three years to one year under the new policy.
At a meeting yesterday (Thursday, January 29), Coun Philip Knowles (Independent - Bourne East) said that the changes were in response to concerns about driver retention and the costs of applying to become a taxi driver in South Kesteven.
The cabinet member for corporate governance and licensing, said: “There was a huge amount of feedback from drivers, from members, operators, members of the public - a huge amount of feedback, asking us to look at it again and we did so.
“Issues that came up on a regular basis were our comparisons with neighbourhood authorities, our concerns about costs, or drivers’ concerns about costs, and in particular, the issues of a national nature - the national state of taxis.
“Recently in the press and on television, there’s been a lot more recently about the inequities of the lack of a national policy and we’ve written to the national government, asking them to consider the situation because it is not fair at the moment.”
Coun Knowles explained that the Hackney carriage and private hire licensing policy is a locally-controlled initiative, with local authorities able to make their own decisions on how taxi drivers are licensed in their area.
He went on to outline the changes to the policy: “The knowledge test which came under criticism has been removed from the policy.
“The English test, which also got a lot of flack, much of it unfounded, that has been retained but it no longer costs the applicant to do that.
“The first English test will be free and any subsequent test if you fail it once and come back for a second go, you would have to pay for.
“There’s the introduction of a one-year licence. The idea being that it was an expensive business to recruit and retain new licencees, so a 12-month licence which is less costly, obviously, than a three-year licence.
“Some of these other changes, for instance, paying by standing order - direct debit rather than all in one go at the beginning, might assist that situation.”
Coun Nikki Manterfield (Conservative - Grantham Springfield) said she supported the new policy. She added: “I’m very pleased to see the changes in this document. I previously sat on licensing for many years.
“This is a really good document that I’m pleased to see has been updated, modernised and got rid of things that were now irrelevant.”
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