From the draft Minutes:
http://web.plymouth.gov.uk/modgov?modgo ... %3BVer%3D4102.
Consideration in principle to depart from the Council's current Licensing Policy in respect to the maximum Hackney Carriage vehicle length of 5000 mm - C R Wildman pdf icon PDF 5 MB
The Director of Public Health will submit a report for consideration in principle to depart from the Council’s current Licensing Policy in respect to the maximum Hackney Carriage vehicle length of 5000 mm.
Minutes:
The Committee –
(a) considered the report from the Director of Public Health and the letters of support attached;
(b) heard from Mr Wildman;
(c) heard representations from some of Mr Wildman’s passengers;
(d) took the above report and all that was said by Mr Wildman and his passengers into account;
(e) took account of the following –
· Mr Wildman informed Committee that he is called by four nursing homes in the Plymouth and South Hams area to transport passengers in powered wheelchairs;
· that the vehicle is more accessible for users of electric powered wheelchairs and allows more room for manoeuvrability of the wheelchairs within the vehicle;
· heard representations from his passengers confirming this point;
· takes passengers from the taxi rank in addition to the work generated by bookings from regular passengers in wheelchairs;
· will remain the proprietor of his current vehicle and the new one, and have a driver of the second vehicle who would also take wheelchair users;
· will be purchasing an existing vehicle licence and taxi plate meaning that the current limit on vehicle numbers will be maintained.
The Committee took all of the above and the report into consideration and also considered the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy specifications for Hackney Carriages which states that vehicles should not exceed 5000 mm in length.
The Committee have considered the application on its own merits and in this instance are prepared to confirm in principle the departure from the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy and to delegate authority to officers the ability to grant a licence to a vehicle of the length, make and modifications detailed in this report provided the vehicle also complies with all other vehicle specification and testing addendum qualifying criteria when formal application is made.