Taxi Driver Online

Tough new rules for taxi drivers

A DRESS code, new meters, a "knowledge" test and more safety checks are among sweeping changes being made to smarten up the taxi trade in North Lincolnshire. The council's biggest shake-up of its 13-year-old licensing policy will see spy cameras fitted inside taxis for the first time.

Applicants for licences will be told they must be able to converse in English and will have to sit a knowledge test, covering routes, legislation and rules of the road. The council's licensing committee agreed all Hackney carriage vehicles would be fitted with calendar-controlled fare meters, to reduce the risk of over-charging.

The new rules will also see the sizes of cab roof signs standardised. But after consultation, the local authority has dropped plans for all Hackney carriage cabs to have silver livery. Instead, the drivers will have to smarten themselves up under a dress code.

Out will go football shirts, tracksuits, flip-flops, offensive tattoos and headwear – other than for religious purposes. Shorts and skirts should be no shorter than knee-length, tops must cover the midriff and shoulders and all clothing must be clean and free from holes and rips.

For the first time, cabbies will be allowed to operate CCTV cameras inside their taxis, as long as the council and passengers are aware. Some dark or tinted windows in Hackney carriages will be banned and door panels giving the company's name and phone number will have to be fitted at the front of vehicles.

All newly-licensed Hackney vehicles will have to be adapted to carry a passenger in a wheelchair and will have to meet European emission standards All applicants will be required to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority before a licence is issued. Drivers who have been banned in the past five years or have six or more points on their licences will be required to sit a Driving Standards Agency test before a taxi licence is issued.

Under the new rules, cabs between five and eight years old will have to be tested twice a year. Those over eight years old will be tested three times. Coun Steve Swift said of the knowledge test: "It is a step in the right direction to safeguard local jobs."

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IDFIMH

I actually think they are quite sensible proposals

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

I can't disagree. I wonder if the 'sensible' branch of the trade was consulted - It looks like it.

Not a bad attempt, until the saloon owners come to change there vehicles and find they must provide a wheelchair accessible vehicle then the sheit hits the fan.
Why shorts?? we are not allowed them here, and how does one remove tattoos????

One doesn't have to one can just cover them up

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

I always thought that adding conditions to a hackney driver's licence required a bylaw.

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Shorts must be no shorter than the knee????? Even post men/women can wear shorts.
So the drive who has love and hat tattoo'd on his knuckles, It says hat because he has lost a finger, will have to wear gloves if the tattoos are deemed offensive.

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Grandad,

I suspect they have a by-law saying drivers must be of a reasonable appearance, and the new dress code is merely a definition.

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IDFIMH