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'I was in one taxi that looked like it was ready for stock car racing' – 12-year age limit set to be brought in for Stoke-on-Trent's taxis

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/st ... ke-3918600

Stoke-on-Trent City Council estimates that the new policy will remove 400 of the most polluting vehicles

Four hundred of the oldest and most polluting taxis will be taken off Stoke-on-Trent's roads – if a new age limit is introduced.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is proposing to bring in a 12-year age limit for private hire vehicles and Hackney carriages, after finding that some licensed cars are nearly 20 years old.

The authority scrapped its previous age limit in 2016, but officials are now looking to reintroduce the rule as part of an updated taxi licensing policy.

At the moment, vehicles must be under the age of seven when they are licensed for the first time. Once they are ten years old they must undergo an MOT and suitability test every six months, but there is no upper limit, meaning, in theory, a car can be used indefinitely.

Licensing manager Rachel Wallwork told the licensing and general purposes committee that this was leading to a deterioration in Stoke-on-Trent's taxi fleet.

Under the proposed policy, the seven-year age limit for new taxis will be removed, as will the requirement for biannual MOT tests after 10 years. But no licence will be renewed once a car is 12 years old.

Ms Wallwork said: "When the previous age limit was removed, the idea was that drivers would replace older vehicles as it would cost too much to get them through an MOT every six months. I think it's fair to say that this isn't what has happened.

"The last time I looked we had licensed vehicles which were up to 19 years old. There aren't a lot of them that are that old, but they are around.

"We estimate that in the first six to 12 months we'll remove 400 of the most polluting vehicles.

"I have to say that I thought 10 years would be a more appropriate limit, but 12 years is what we're proposing after talking to the trade."

Committee members welcomed the proposed change, which will be subject to a 12-week consultation along with other amendments to the licensing policy.

Councillor Ross Irving said: "I agree that 10 years would have been a better age limit. But we'll put this out to consultation and see what comes back.

"We need to have thriving Hackney carraige and private hire businesses in the city, but we also need to make sure they provide an effective service for the general public.

"Once a car gets over 10 years old the interior is starting to deteriorate. I caught a taxi at Stoke Station the other day, and it seemed like it was ready for stock car racing."

Committee chairman Amjid Wazir also welcomed the proposals. He said: "I think drivers will welcome this change as it will mean they won't have to get MOT tests every six months after 10 years."

Another proposed change to the licensing policy would allow Hackney carriage drivers to use vehicles with rear access for wheelchairs.

The current rule requires Hackney carriages to be wheelchair accessible from the side, which means makes them larger, more expensive and more polluting than typical saloon cars.

Ms Wallwork said changing the rule to allow rear-loading cars would give drivers the option of buying cheaper vehicles, without compromising passenger safety.

The council is also proposing to change driver training requirements, in response to concerns raised by the trade.

Drivers are currently required to pass the BTEC level 2 in 'Introduction to the Role of Professional Taxi and Private Hire Driver' course prior to making their application for a licence.

Under the new policy, this requirement would be replaced with a one-day driver training course, including a local knowledge test and safeguarding training.

Drivers will also be required to undertake a safeguarding refresher course every three years.

The consultation on the new licensing policy will run from March 9 to May 29.

didn't realise there were any others apart from Rutland and Blackpool who didn't have an age limit

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Councillors drop plans for 'unaffordable' taxi age limit – due to impact of Covid-19

Council officials have shelved plans to impose an age limit on taxis – due to Covid-19's impact on the trade.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council had proposed to introduce a 12-year age limit on cars used as private hire vehicles or Hackney carriages under a revised taxi licensing policy.

But taxi firms and drivers objected to the 'unaffordable' proposal, saying it would require them to replace dozens of vehicles at a time when the pandemic has severely hit their income.

Members of the licensing and general purposes committee have now agreed to drop the proposed age limit from the revised licensing policy – although the issue may be revisited next year.

Under the current rules, vehicles must be less than seven years old when they are first licensed. Once they are 10 years old, they must undergo an MOT and suitability test every six months, but other than that there is no upper age limit.

Licensing manager Rachel Wallwork told the committee that officers had proposed changing these rules due to concerns over the deteriorating condition of Stoke-on-Trent's taxi fleet.

But after receiving feedback from the trade during a consultation earlier this year, the licensing department now accepted that it would be the wrong time to introduce the age limit.

Ms Wallwork said: "We were looking for all vehicles to be removed from licensing at 12 years of age. Historically, we had an end-of-life age policy, after which vehicles were not allowed to be renewed.

"We removed that three years ago because the trade told us they wanted to be in charge of their own destiny and that they would naturally replace older vehicles with the newer vehicles.

"Unfortuately, over the past three years, it's become apparent that that hasn't happened, and we now have a much older fleet than we've ever had before. We had 17 and 18-year-old vehicles that have done hundreds of thousands of miles and are still currently licensed.

"As you can see from the consultation responses, that was the thing that most people were concerned about, especially in light of Covid-19 – the trade is down at the moment, and there is no night-time economy to speak of at the moment.

"Obviously, things will improve, but that is the reason why licensing have recommended we remove the age policy at this time, to give the economy a chance to recover. We can revisit it in future when we can see what the true effect of the pandemic has been."

During the consultation, a number of taxi firms and associations asked for the age limit to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Hackney Carriage Association wrote to the council saying that 49 licensed vehicles in the city were currently over the age of 12, with a further 29 over the age of 10.

City Centre Central private hire firm said the age limit policy would affect 30 of its vehicles, while Z Carz Private Hire stated that it had four vehicles over the age of 12.

The Z Carz letter states: "We have looked at our vehicle licences with Stoke-on-Trent and, of the 18 vehicles, there are four vehicles over 12 years of age and a further 11 that are 10 or more years old.

"This would mean that, if this policy comes into force in the next few months, 15 of our vehicles would have to be replaced. This is over 50 per cent of our vehicles. This will not be sustainable nor affordable.

"We would like to suggest that the licensing services postpone the review of the taxi policy for the foreseeable future and at least for sufficient time to allow the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic to be assessed."

Committee members voted to accept the revised policy, barring the age limit.

Changes include requiring drivers to undertake a safeguarding refresher course every three years, and allowing the licensing of Hackney carriages with rear access for wheelchairs.

The new policy will come into effect from January 1, to give enough time for the council to inform drivers and firms of the changes.

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IDFIMH

so not only are they older than the rest of us but up to 10 years of age only ONE test a year!

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

The age of a vehicle has nothing to do with the condition of the vehicle.

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Former taxi driver

The age of a vehicle has a lot to do with it's emissions though.

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Grandad,

Does it though, grandad, does it? Although I suppose it does if it’s a euro five/six German diesel car...

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Former taxi driver

I don't know what years that euro 5 and 6 came in but i doubt that it was 20 years ago. I have just checked, euro 5 was 2009 and euro 6 was 2014

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Grandad,

It is open to abuse though a vehicle can be in poor condition for months and then quickly sorted just before test. In most parts of the uk even a 1 year old hackney or PH has 2 tests a year and the DVLA recommend 2 tests a year for any vehicle doing higher than average mileages!

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

And the point I was making was the emissions scandal at VW etc, where software faked emissions levels.

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Former taxi driver

Of course, it is easy for those of you that have licensing that does not require you to operate a wav. You know full well that to own and operate a wav, either LTI or E7 variants, that the costs are far far higher. A new merc wav can be had at the bargain price of 38k. A new hybrid LTI, 66k. What does a new Skoda cost? Considerably less, isn’t it?
But with an age limit set arbitrarily as they are, at say, 12 years, or less, what is the owner of that vehicle to do with it? A Black cab is rarely bought or sold into the private sector, so what will the owner of a de licence cab to do with it, maybe a perfectly roadworthy vehicle? The value, zero. A second hand Skoda on the other hand, will find a buyer privately, if it still has life left in it. Also, a second hand wav will depreciate at a much quicker rate of knots, due to the limited life on the rank allowed by age limit. I don’t think grandad and e23 would be applauding these absurd age restrictions if they were pilloried with the excessive costs of operating a wav over a saloon car. Councils set the standard required on testing for hire vehicles, so why is it a problem when vehicles meet the criteria?

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Former taxi driver

Age restriction here is 10 years for all but WAVs which are 12 years.

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Grandad,

for your information I used to operate wav's for 15 years but as the ONLY wav operator locally was at a severe disadvantage. Then when my last wav was just 7 years old an insurance company approved repairer took 3 months to sort out a damaged door resulting in it not being able to pass it's test on time and I ended up with a vehicle which was un-licensable. I estimate that my total losses as a result was about 7 to 8 K after which I stopped running a wav and bought a standard 8 seater for airport work. Believe me I know all about the financial consequences of age rules BUT it stops the cheapskates buying 10 year old wrecks which as long as they can get them through a test they ran and passengers trust the local fleet to be safe which locally they didn't before the restrictions came in.

They do actually work and keep standards up and drivers on their toes as regards vehicle maintenance.

My gripe is the same rules should apply nationally not council by council! A level playing field nationwide is much better than one shaped like Lincoln Arboretum!

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

An older vehicle maintained correctly which in my experience most do is in all probability in better nick than newer vehicles as the proprietor probably does not maintain the vehicle in the belief that it is OK because its only x years old.

You want national standards? Ok let’s use the standard set down by tfl!

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Former taxi driver