Taxi Driver Online

Private hire shake-up in Worcester scrapped after concerns around standards

A BID to 'water down' standards of private hire drivers in Worcester has been thrown out - after councillors insisted it would send the wrong message to the public.

After months of disagreements, Worcester City Council has decided all private cabbies must still undertake detailed local knowledge tests with pass marks of 80 per cent to secure permission to use the roads.

It was voted through 7-3 despite severe splits in opinion during a licensing committee meeting last night, with two Conservatives, Allah Ditta and Roger Knight, backing carrying on with the tough tests but three fellow party members going against.

In response to guidance from central Government that private hire cars do not need detailed knowledge of the roads, council officers have spent months devising new tests for them.

Back in March they drafted proposals to have private cabbies sit exams without local knowledge included, only to come back with a fresh version this week after concerns from hackney carriage drivers.

But the new version, which included a knowledge test but pass marks of just 65 per cent for questions on 'places of interest' and 'routes', fell foul of the majority of the committee.

The vote means prospective private hire drivers must reach the same pass marks as hackney carriages, the vehicles which use the congested ranks.

Councillor Adrian Gregson said: "I fail to see the logic in differentiating between the two tests - they need to be the same for both sets of drivers."

Fellow Councillor Simon Cronin said: "I've seen no evidence to persuade me that the city will benefit from a lessening of the standards of the taxi trade, or why the standards of one set of drivers should be lower than the other."

The three Conservatives to disagree with them, Matt Lacey, Gareth Jones and Lucy Hodgson, accused committee members of wasting staff time to get back to square one.

During the debate, another counter-argument to that status quo was that the different tests would make it easier for drivers to obtain private hire licenses, making it far less attractive to carry on running hackney carriages.

Back in February the council launched a 'cap' on hackney carriages for the first time ever, setting it at 230, after years of concern about over-ranking, double parking and environmental damage due to the growing numbers of drivers.

Legal advisers on the committee last night also said they feared potential challenges on the tough tests from private hire cabbies, insisting the officers were following national guidance - but it did not change the outcome.

But Councillor Joy Squires said: "It's been very messy at times, but I must admit when I read the report I was surprised the option to keep the same standards for both wasn't included.

"The people out there will expect us to have the highest standards we can, what this licensing committee says to the people of Worcester is very important."

Her comments drew loud applause from hackney carriage drivers who had packed into the public gallery.

After the meeting Mohammed Sajad, from Worcester Taxi Drivers Association, said: "We don't want to see standards for any drivers made worse, and that includes private hire."

Here's what the association said about this back in March, when they called it a 'simpleton' test.

The new tests will launch from July, but standards for both sections of the taxi trade will be the same.

source: http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/133 ... standards/

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

mongs will mong

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

No poo Sherlock.

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IDFIMH