THE roll-out of a penalty points scheme aimed at raising standards among Worcester’s taxi drivers has been delayed over the design and wording on the tickets.
A Worcester City Council chief said he was not convinced the original wording would have stood up in court and so decided to send the tickets back and make some changes.
That has resulted in a delay – but it had been hoped the scheme, which could see drivers penalised for offences ranging from overcharging customers, having too many taxis in a rank, or even failing to wear a driver’s badge, could have gone live by now.
Martin Gillies, environmental health manager at Worcester City Council, said the delay has not cost any money, just time.
“We initially had a bit of a problem getting the tickets printed and when they came back we had a look at them and we needed to redesign them for legal reasons,” he said.
“You have got to be very clear with these things. The whole scheme is intended to put less pressure on the courts.
“But if a taxi driver has got the chance to appeal against a decision to revoke their licence then they are going to, so we have got to be 100 per cent sure from a legal point of view these things are robust.”
We previously reported in your Worcester News how the penalty points scheme would not fine drivers but instead see them issued with between two and eight points for each offence or breach of licence, depending on its nature.
If a taxi driver notches up 20 or more points within a year, the council will have the power to bring that person before its licensing sub-committee for a review that could result in a suspension or removal of licence.
Any driver caught committing a serious offence such as drink-driving would also be brought before the committee.
The system,
which has the support of Worcester Taxi Drivers’ Association and West Mercia Police, will be used in addition to existing powers.
http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/836 ... st_moment/
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