Taxi Driver Online

Scores on the doors set to drive up standards in taxi trade



Star cabbies across Rochdale could be recognised with a special scoring system as part of moves designed to drive up standards in the borough’s taxi trade.

The proposals, which are currently open to public consultation, call for the introduction of an awards scheme which would offer private hire operators a bronze, silver or gold award, or no award at all, according to how they perform in regular assessments.

Licensing staff would look at everything from how the operators support disabled passengers to how many penalty points operators have accrued.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick, Cabinet Member for Licensing and Regulation at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “It’s vital that our taxi drivers adhere to the highest standards because passenger safety is of paramount importance. These proposals will help ensure that our drivers are the best in the business and should help customers make an informed decision about who they travel with. I’d encourage residents to get involved in the consultation and let us know their views.”

To receive a gold award, operators would need to fulfil a range of criteria including having a customer service charter, ensuring drivers complete a full daily inspection of their cab using a check sheet and having a robust system in place to communicate to drivers messages from the police and other agencies.

Firms would lose points for, among other things, failing to cooperate with licensing staff, allowing unlicensed drivers to work for the company and not taking action against drivers following customer complaints.

Stephen Campbell, who runs Heywood-based taxi firm Car 2000, welcomed the move and said “These changes will bring the taxi industry up-to-date. Oldham Council already run a similar star-based scheme and this will really raise the standards for taxi firms across the borough.

“Our customers can be assured that we will be aiming for the gold award and provide a transparent service for our customers.”

Companies would display their rating on their vehicles and at their operating base to help customers decide who they want to travel with.
A second proposal, which is also open to public consultation, would see individual hackney carriage and private hire drivers accrue penalty points for a number of infringements.

Examples of how drivers could fall foul of the rules include unreasonable prolongation of a journey to hike up a fare (four points), modifying a vehicle without permission from the council (six points) and failing to behave in a civil manner (one-12 points). Drivers who rack up 12 points or more could be stripped of their license.

People can find out about the proposals in more detail at www.rochdale.gov.uk/consultations and feed their views in writing to Rochdale Council Licensing Section or via email to licensing.reg@rochdale.gov.uk

People can also contact the Licensing Section on telephone number 01706 924 114 for any further information on either of the proposals.

The consultation will end at midnight on 26 January before a final decision is made by the council’s cabinet.

source: http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-fe ... taxi-trade

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

The biggest improvement should come from the L.A's themselves They are always ready to criticise the drivers for the system that they have implemented

This is the only job/occupation whereby the people who issue the licence - never sit down and do a face on face chat to see if the person concerned is suitable to do the job..........and that the job is suitable to them!

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

You could Book two Vehicles off one operator..The first with the most Courteous and Delightful driver in the newest vehicle of the fleet, the Second could be the Companys scrapper driven by the most unkempt and obnoxious driver imaginable...Yet both Vehicles may be carrying a Gold Standard sign..

Dumbest fechin Idea ever...theres no saying even the same vehicle will have the same driver 2 nights running.

We had a daily vehicle check list when I worked for a council, we just ticked all the boxes and drove off. Who's going to check the checks on the checklists have been checked

That may be the case but if something goes wrong and the driver has ticked the box to say that they have checked it, the driver carries the can.
Our drivers have a daily check sheet and they are told that if the don't actually do the checks and something goes wrong it is a disceplinary matter.

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Grandad,