Taxi Driver Online

If anyone in Aylesbury can shed any light on why these cab drivers proposed restricting hackney carriage vehicles to only two types, I would appreciate your input. Just for the record a council cannot stipulate any one make of vehicle to be licensed as a hackney carriage, it can only set down conditions that the vehicle is required to meet?
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The draft Taxi and Private Hire Policy had been considered at two previous meetings of the Licensing Committee. Cabinet had approved the Policy and agreed that the Licensing Committee should consider the issue of a lower age limit and recommend a decision to be endorsed by the Cabinet Member for Environment and Health. Amendments to the Policy had been requested by the Private Hire trade and by the Hackney Carriage Association in relation to a lower age limit for private hire vehicles and the types of vehicles for use by Hackney Carriage licence holders.

Members were asked to consider a lower age limit in the light of representations from the Private Hire trade and a letter received from the Hackney Carriage Association which volunteered a restriction to just two types of EU approved vehicles. These would be purpose built taxis either type TXII or E7. The fleet would be standardised on these vehicles by 2010.

Five members of the trade attended the meeting to make representations and to answer Members’ questions.

Members’ debate centred on the issue of a lower age limit for vehicles to be first licensed, whether this should be linked to mileage and/or other factors such as the condition of vehicles and how control could be gained over those vehicles that were used for Schools’ Contracts by the County Council.

After thorough consideration, it was

RESOLVED –

(1) That a lower age limit be set at six years for vehicles first licensed as either Hackney Carriages or Private Hire vehicles and that the policy be reviewed within 18 months, having particular regard to other safety standards such as mileage, and be reported back to the Committee.

(2) That the Committee agree the proposals from the Hackney Carriage Association in respect to limiting Hackney Carriage vehicles to European Whole Type Approved only and that those serving the town centre (white plates) shall be in a black livery and those serving the rest of the district (red plates) shall be liveried in any colour other than black. These proposals to be in place by 2010.

(3) That the Committee agree that guidance notes should be produced by the Head of Environmental Health and Licensing Services, to assist the trade in respect of what is to be considered an executive vehicle and that the Head of Environmental Health and Licensing Services be authorised to determine, after consultation with the Chairman of the Licensing Committee, what constitutes an executive vehicle.

(4) That the Committee agrees the need for exception to the age limits on Private Hire ‘minibuses’ or executive vehicles and that each vehicle licence application or renewal be determined by the Head of Environmental Health and Licensing Services on its own merit, taking into consideration the general condition of the vehicle, its mileage and age.

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2. FINAL AMENDMENT TO TAXI AND PRIVATE HIRE POLICY

On 14th March, 2006, Cabinet had approved the Taxi and Private Hire Policy, with the exception of those elements relating to age limits for private hire vehicles at the time of first licensing with the Council. This issue had been referred back to the Licensing Committee for further consideration in the light of representations received from the private hire trade. The Cabinet Member had been authorised to act upon the Licensing Committee’s conclusions.

Cabinet received a report on the deliberations of the Licensing Committee concerning which the Committee Chairman was invited to elaborate. These had extended beyond the issue of private hire vehicle age limits. In addition, the Committee had considered representations from the private hire trade about the inclusion within the policy of an “approved list” of “executive vehicles” and an exception from any proposed age limit for minibuses. The Committee had also been advised that the Hackney Carriage Association had confirmed its willingness to introduce, by 2010, just two types of Hackney Carriage Vehicle (in black livery), namely the “TX11” (London style cab) and “E7”, both of which complied with EU standards. Furthermore, the Association had agreed that vehicles that did not meet that standard should not have their licences renewed after 2010.

The Licensing Committee had decided that:-

the lower age limit should be set at 6 years for vehicles licensed as either hackney carriages or private hire vehicles, with the position being reviewed by the Committee after 18 months;

hackney carriage vehicles should, by 2010, meet EU standards and those serving Aylesbury (white plates) should be in black livery, and those serving the remainder of the District (red plates) should be in another colour.

the Head of Environmental Health and Licensing Services should produce guidance notes in relation to “executive vehicles” and agree a formal definition after consultation with the Chairman of the Licensing Committee; and

no age limit should be applied to private hire minibuses or “executive vehicles” and that each vehicle licence application or renewal should be determined on its merits, having regard to type of vehicle, age, mileage, etc.

RESOLVED –

(1) That the decisions of the Licensing Committee as set out in paragraphs 3.9 to 3.12 of the Cabinet report be endorsed.

(2) That the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy be amended by the Head of Environmental Health and Licensing Services, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment and Health, to reflect the above decisions.
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Perhaps its a case of ensuring if delimitation (if it hasnt already) arrives, new plate holders will invest a suitable amount of money?

CC

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

well at least they've opted for an E7 instead of a metroshed.

Why exclude Minibus's? most are driven 24/7 (2-3 shifts per day) as opposed to one shift per day like most PH vehicles.
The wear and tear on a minibus is much more than a car, so that makes it more likely to be dangerous if not maintained properly.

It hasn't.



Ah! is it a case of existing cab owners trying to formulate future taxi vehicle policy?

Far from restricting vehicles to just two types didn't the committee state that all vehicles would have to meet EU vehicle standards.

Considering EU whole type vehicle standards are basically a formality in this day and age has it not left the door wide open for great many other vehicle types?

Vehicle Certification Agency state that EC approval of most road vehicles is based around a "Whole Vehicle" framework Directive 70/156/EEC (as last amended by 2001/116/EC) and this specifies the range of aspects of the vehicle that must be approved to separate technical Directives. Hence, in order to gain EC whole vehicle approval, a vehicle first will have to be approved for e.g. brakes, emissions, noise, etc - up to 48 different standards for a typical car.

The issuing of the whole vehicle approval does not in itself involve testing, but a production sample of the complete vehicle is inspected to check that its specification matches the specifications contained in all the separate Directive approvals.

http://www.vca.gov.uk/vehicletype/type- ... for-ca.asp

This of course lets in vehicles such as the mercedes M8 which in my opinion is a far superior vehicle than the TX or E7.

Leicester will be an interesting development because once they remove the turning circle they won't be able to restrict any vehicle that complies with the new conditions. I don't think they realise this, yet?

Regards

JD

Yes that was the decision at first when they introduced that all taxis should be WAV but now its not just 2 vehicles its what ever vehicle you like but has to be purpose built hackney spec WAV
TX has to be newer than 4years when 1st licensed and has no maximum age limit
E7 - 4years new when 1st licensed and 10years maximum age limit
Any other vehicle licensed has to be brand new out of garage and 10years maximum age limit.
But know most tend to avoid the TX as high costs and has alot of faults all drivers who drive a TX2 have TX1 nissan engines as they are alot quieter.

A six year gap between posts.

Is this a TDO thing?

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IDFIMH