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New school run-only taxi licence brought in to tackle driver shortages in part of Leicestershire
A new, streamlined taxi licence has been launched in one area of the county in a bid to help meet growing demand for home-to-school transport. The licence is dedicated to school runs and will be quicker and cheaper to get, Blaby District Council, which is introducing the scheme, has said.
Drivers will not have to take a council test – which involves assessments on local road knowledge, maths and receipt writing not needed for school runs, the district council added. However, they will still need to meet standards on driving ability, safeguarding, medical fitness and DBS checks.
Drivers with this licence would only be able to operate as a home-to-school transport and would not be able to carry out any other taxi services. Blaby District Council hopes, by making the process easier, quicker and cheaper, more drivers will sign up for the scheme and more children will have the transport they need.
Leicestershire County Council, as the local authority responsible for education, has seen a 45 per cent increase in demand for home-to-school taxis, which mainly caters to children with special needs who cannot walk or travel to school by public transport, in the last five years. The county is “struggling to fulfil obligations”, Blaby District Demand has said, and is expecting demand to continue increasing by around 6 per cent each year.
Councillor Les Phillimore, Blaby District Council’s portfolio holder for housing, community and environmental services, said: “Leicestershire County Council is not alone in struggling to meet the demand for school transport services, so we hope by introducing this type of licence we could help to attract more drivers into the trade, supporting the county to deliver this valuable service. It may suit people with time on their hands who would like to offer a service to the community and would never have thought of applying for a private hire licence because they didn’t want to offer the usual ‘taxi’ services with some of the challenges that brings.
“I do want to stress however, this is not a shortcut to getting a private hire licence. We will maintain our stringent checks on applicants to make sure they are suitable for the role and of course we will ensure any vehicles meet our requirements for the job. The comfort and safety of the schoolchildren will be paramount.”
The county council is “fully behind the scheme”, Blaby said, adding that the education authority has seen a “significant decline in the number of licensed drivers”. This has, in some cases, “led to school transport contracts being handed back due to lack of available drivers”, it added.
Councillor Ozzy O’Shea, Leicestershire County Council cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “We very much support the initiative taken by Blaby District Council as it will help with the national issue of driver shortages and assist us in increasing capacity in the home-to-school transport sector within Leicestershire. While this initiative helps smooth out the process of recruiting drivers, the safety and wellbeing of children remain our absolute priority, so all drivers remain subject to rigorous safeguarding checks.”
More than 50 per cent of the current demand for home-to-school taxis is met by private companies. Local taxi firms also support the new initiative, the district council has said.
Andy Mahoney is the managing director of 24/7 Ltd taxi group which has operators in Blaby district and is fully behind the scheme. He said: “Taking children to school is an important part of the taxi industry, especially special needs children. Without that infrastructure these children cannot get to school safely and that can cause major issues.
“If people come to us and want to do school transport they would usually have to apply for a standard private hire driver licence. This means going on a course which could take 16 weeks and learning about taxi meters, counting change, local road knowledge and other stuff which they would never need to know just for school trips.
“This new licence makes the whole process easier and simpler and it means people are applying for and getting a licence for a job they want to do and are happy to do. I think this will make a massive difference and will serve district residents well. Importantly, Blaby District Council has made a huge step in safeguarding vulnerable children.”
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