Knowledge test for new taxi drivers in Blaenau Gwent crackdownNEW taxi drivers in Blaenau Gwent will have to take a knowledge test as part of a council crackdown on a licensing loophole.
The council’s general licensing committee voted to make it more difficult to get a taxi licence after a boom in the number of drivers who have Blaenau Gwent licences but then go to work elsewhere.
Before getting a taxi licence, applicants will now have to show a “bona fide intention” to work in Blaenau Gwent and take the knowledge test, which has already been introduced in Torfaen and Caerphilly.
The three-hour test would contain three parts including multiple choice questions testing literacy and numeracy, a verbal test on local knowledge and then a third open book test on the law and licensing policy.
Ceri Hussey, of Torfaen Training Centre, which will run the tests, said examples of questions include how to get to or from a place, locating the nearest cashpoint and knowledge of local landmarks.
The move comes after Bristol City Council wrote to Blaenau Gwent asking them to change their licensing policy. Bristol Council said they lose out on licensing income and control over taxi standards because of Blaenau Gwent drivers coming to work in their city.
Speaking to the committee yesterday, the team manager for trading standards and licensing, Steve Osborne, said there had been a “large increase of applications from people outside Blaenau Gwent”.
In November last year, the general licensing committee were concerned that the council was “being targeted by applicants from across the UK” and opened a consultation with drivers and seven replied with mixed views.
Glyn Jones, owner of Cavalier Cabs, said drivers licensed in Blaenau Gwent are going elsewhere because “there is no work here”.
Although he agrees with the council’s proposed Intended Use Policy – to ensure licence-holders stay and work in Blaenau Gwent – he said a knowledge test is “just nonsense, unnecessary and it will bring charges”. He said: “We are not in Birmingham or London, it’s not a large area that we need to know. One suburb of London is larger than Blaenau Gwent. We know all these places.”
But Peter Lynch, of All Stars, based in Garnlydan, said he agreed with the knowledge test.
“For new drivers I think it’s good. We are having a lot of people who get licensed here and are taking their cars to other areas because the other areas have knowledge tests. We don’t so it’s an easy way to get a badge”.
In the meeting, councillors questioned the financial implications of the move which could see the council lose tens of thousands of pounds in income from licence applications outside the borough.
Cllr Richard Jones said: “It seems damned if you do it, damned if you don’t.”
The ‘intended use’ policy and knowledge test will come into effect from June 25.
The knowledge test costs £60 and only applies to new applicants.
Under the ‘intended use’ policy, licence holders who are not operating predominantly in Blaenau Gwent could have their licence revoked.
source:
http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/1 ... crackdown/
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