Taxi Driver Online

South Ribble last night confirmed their decision of 7/3/05 to lift numbers and made it a condition that hackney carriage vehicles would be Maroon in colour. There will also be a quality control element.


Regards

JD

Clearly they must have an Independant Maroon Party candidate in South Ribble.

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IDFIMH

So the Brighton trade should hope that the Independent Pink Party doesn't get a say there.

Presumably it was the Independent Teletubbie-Green Party that decided the colour policy there

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Taxi Driver Online
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South Ribble report .

REPORT TO DATE OF MEETING

General Licensing Committee
14 April 2005

SUBJECT PORTFOLIO AUTHOR ITEM

The De-restriction of Hackney Carriage Vehicles Cultural and Community Services David Stewart 4

SUMMARY AND LINK TO CORPORATE PRIORITIES

Proposed response to Government proposals in respect of the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) Report – ‘The Regulation of Licensed Taxi and PHV (Private Hire Vehicles) Services in the UK’

This is a report further to the meeting of the Taxi Forum on 21 March 2005 where the proposals were discussed and amendments suggested.

RECOMMENDATIONS

After consultation with the Taxi Trade forum, where some valid points were made and agreed it is recommended that the committee consider the criteria for hackney carriage vehicles from 1 May 2005 to be;

1) No Hackney Carriage to be over 4 years old (date of first registration or manufactured/first used whichever is earlier) at the time of first Licensing.
2) All Hackney Carriages to be purpose built and be wheelchair accessible.
3) Hackney Carriage vehicles to be removed from service at Licence expiry when 10 years old (date of first registration or manufactured/first used whichever is earlier).
4) All other vehicles must be licensed as Private Hire Vehicles (PHV) against the existing PHV criteria.
5) Current hackney carriage proprietors to operate under current rules regarding hackney carriages until 1 May 2015.

DETAILS AND REASONING

The committee has previously agreed that if hackney carriage licences are to be de-regulated quality control measures should be imposed to limit the number of hackney carriages in the borough and to keep the condition of vehicles to a high standard. The proposed measures were:-

1) No Hackney Carriage to be over 3 years old (date of first registration or manufactured/first used whichever is earlier) at the time of first Licensing.
2) All Hackney Carriages to be purpose built and be wheelchair accessible.
3) Hackney Carriage vehicles to be removed from service at Licence expiry when 10 years old (date of first registration or manufactured/first used whichever is earlier).
4) All other vehicles must be licensed as Private Hire Vehicles (PHV) against the existing PHV criteria.
5) Current hackney carriage proprietors to operate under current rules regarding hackney carriages until 1 May 2013.

This was proposed to the taxi trade forum on 21 March 2005, during the course of the forum the
following suggestions were made to the proposed application criteria for hackney carriage
vehicles. They are listed below with responses–

(a) No hackney carriage (purpose built and wheel chair accessible) to be over 6 years old at the time of first registration and vehicles to be removed from service at the expiry of the licence when 12 years old (date of first registration or manufactured/first used whichever was earlier);

It may be felt by the committee that 6 years and 12 years respectively is too old bearing in mind that a taxi can easily cover 50,000 miles in twelve months. If standards are to be kept high then 4 years is seen as a more realistic age. A tidy second hand model can be purchased for between eight and ten thousand pounds. 4 years is an increase on the originally proposed 3 years.

(b) in order to protect small businesses, a period of 10 years, rather than 8, be allowed for current hackney carriage operators to operate under the existing hackney carriage conditions until 1 May 2015;

Accepted..

(c) Any new applications following 1 May 2005 would be subject to the proposed application criteria;

Accepted

(d) The possibility of a corporate colour scheme for purpose built taxis in order to distinguish taxis from the borough.

Although an excellent idea, a corporate colour scheme would impose additional restrictions and may prove unpopular with owner drivers who cannot afford a ‘new’ vehicle. It would restrict their choice of second hand taxi or put them to the expense of having their vehicle re-sprayed.

(e) Due to the possible large amount of purpose built taxis from 1 May 2005 to 1 May 2013/15 to be purchased from approved firms, whether the council could negotiate a special discounted price for purpose built taxis in order to assist the hackney carriage taxi trade.

It is felt that this would be unwise as it would bring the council within the privity of the contract of sale between the vendor and purchaser of the said vehicle. However should the trade request we can arrange for demonstrations or an open day for specialist manufacturers.

Wider Implications

In the preparation of this report, consideration has been given to the impact of its proposals in all the areas shown below. A risk assessment has also been carried out. The table shows the implications in respect of each of these.

FINANCIAL There are no financial implications for the authority with the proposals. .
LEGAL Continued restriction without justification may lead to judicial review of policy and breach of government guidelines
RISK 1 – Low – Acceptable Risk
OTHER (see below) There are no other risks associated with this proposal.

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS

Minutes of the Taxi Trade Forum held on 21 March 2005