Agenda item

Report of the Director of Early Intervention and Support (enclosed)

The Director of Early Intervention and Support submitted a report for the Licensing and Public Safety Committee to consider the consultation responses to the draft Consolidated Taxi Licensing Policy and agree the timescale for review of the Policy.

The Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy consolidates all previous Taxi Licensing policies, therefore the Licensing and Public Safety Committee has already carefully considered and made decisions on the details of each of the policies at previous committees. Members were informed that additional proposals were raised during the consultation period and were discussed at the Licensing Liaison Panel which were to be subsequently addressed at the meeting.

The Draft Policy was put out for consultation for a period of 12 weeks to the end of December 2016, each licensed driver, vehicle proprietor and private hire operator was written to and provided a link to the Council’s website, where the document was published.

Due to the volume of recommendations included in the report, the committee agreed to consider and vote on each recommendation individually in turn.

The Regulatory Services Manager drew Members’ attention to the first consultation response that was received from Coopers Taxis, the largest Private Hire Operator in the Borough. The email suggested the mandatory installation of CCTV in all vehicles, new and existing, for the following reasons; it had been recommended as part of the Safeguarding Awareness Training which was delivered to Members and the Trade in 2016. The cost of CCTV installation had reduced dramatically in recent years and camera systems could now be purchased for as little as £30. Responses from the Safeguarding Forum suggested that this practice was beneficial for drivers. For example, if a serious accusation is made against a driver they can be dealt with immediately and thus avoid the driver facing suspension whilst the incident is investigated. Members were made aware that this proposal had been raised with the Trade and the Licensing Liaison Panel in January 2017 and members present supported the suggestion.

With regards to a timescale for implementation it had been suggested at the Licensing Liaison Panel either the 1 January 2018 or 1 April 2018 for existing vehicles and new vehicles on grant. Members were informed that this time period would allow operators to install sophisticated systems if they desired. Members agreed that personal choice would suggest that they would want to install the systems as soon as possible and therefore recommended that this be exercised imminently but only mandatory by 1 January 2018. This also led members to suggest that no restrictions be made on the make or model as long as it was in compliance with the ICO guidelines.

Following further discussion and a verbal amendment to the recommendation by the Regulatory Services Manager, Members agreed to include a condition that the CCTV footage must be kept for a minimum of 28 days. Ultimately, the responsibility for storage would lie with the proprietor.

Furthermore, members agreed that signage must be visible in vehicles at all times to indicate that CCTV footage was present and being filmed in the vehicle. However, the Trade were reassured that if required to observe CCTV footage, the authorised Council officer would only look at the specifics required to ensure no infringement on the privacy of the proprietor.

Further to this, the Legal Services Team Leader suggested the inclusion of an additional condition that Private Hire Operator or Vehicle Licence Holder’s must ensure CCTV footage be made accessible and available for copying at Council premises when required by authorised Council Licensing Officers. Failure to abide by this would be a breach of their licence which would become a fit and proper issue to be settled at the general licensing sub-committee.

Following discussion and considering all the relevant factors it was proposed by Councillor Adrian Lowe, seconded by Councillor John Walker and subsequently RESOLVED to; a) note the consultation responses received on the proposed Draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy and agreed that CCTV be installed in all vehicles licensed by Chorley Borough Council including the following conditions;

1)    CCTV must be implemented in existing vehicles no later than 1 January 2018 and implemented in new vehicles on grant.

2)    CCTV footage must be kept for a minimum of 28 days and comply with the data collection and storage rules set out by the Information Commissioner’s Office. Appropriate conditions to secure this to be imposed as standard on grant of all private hire operator licenses, private hire vehicle licences and hackney carriage vehicle licences.

3)    CCTV footage must be made accessible when required by an authorised Licensing Officer of the Council and available for copying by an authorised Officer on council premises; failure to do so would result in the breach of the operator’s licence or hackney carriage proprietor’s or private hire vehicle licence. Appropriate conditions to secure this to be imposed as standard on grant of all private hire operator licences, private hire vehicle licences and hackney carriage vehicle licences.

4)    That signage indicating the use of CCTV must be visible in the vehicle at all times.

Members were made aware that the second consultation response was from the Guide Dogs Association requesting the inclusion of the condition in relation to carrying assistance dogs. Chorley Council already have conditions in the Policy in relation to assistance dogs, however, it was suggested that the committee may want to consider whether the Council adopt the wording proposed by the Guide Dogs Association and also the requirement for Tactile Medical Exemption Certificates, which allows those partially sighted or blind passengers to ensure that the certificate is valid.

Following discussion it was proposed by Councillor Mick Muncaster, seconded by Councillor Tony Gee and subsequently RESOLVED that; b) the Policy included the proposed wording suggested by the Guide Dogs Association and included a requirement for any medical exemption certificate in relation to assistance dogs to be produced in a tactile format.

Members were reminded that at the last Licensing and Public Safety Committee in November 2016, following research into MOT pass and fail rates for Chorley Licensed Vehicles, Officers raised concerns about the clear lack of preventative maintenance carried out to a large proportion of the vehicles checked. Members recalled that there were high percentages of vehicles failing MOT’s on numerous occasions and also issues with advisory notes, in particular with relation to tyres close to legal limits, worn brakes and suspension issues, where those issues were then being shown as the reason for failure at subsequent tests.

As a result, Members considered whether to introduce a change on the existing Chorley Council Taxi Test whereby a vehicle will fail the test where there are MOT advisory notes on the MOT certificate. Therefore, proprietors would be required to address these issues before a vehicle licence can be issued or renewed. Members were reminded that the Taxi Test endorsed by the Council must be equivalent to or better than the VOSA MOT test, which assesses the vehicle to a minimum mechanical standard.

Members also considered the lack of enforcement resources available to the Council which meant that there were limited opportunities for officers to carry out rank inspections and other proactive interventions such as ANPR events. Therefore, the Council’s Enforcement Officers were less likely to pick up on defects and issues such as worn tyres in the routine work as proactive inspections are infrequent due to the volume of reactive work.

Following discussion and careful consideration it was proposed by Councillor Hasina Khan, seconded by Councillor Adrian Lowe and subsequently RESOLVED to; c) include the condition that a Council’s Taxi Test not only requires the vehicle to pass an MOT test as part of the testing regime, but that the vehicle will fail the Council’s Taxi Test were there are advisory recommendations noted on that MOT.

In addition, Members were asked to consider the removal of the existing procedure, which allows for a Licence to be renewed in the absence of a DBS certificate where the DBS application has been made in a timely fashion (28 days prior to the expiry date). This allowance was agreed in 2015 in order to be flexible to existing licence holders and renew on the basis that there was no evidence at renewal that the applicant did not meet the fit and proper test. However, it was suggested that this was not good practice and therefore it was recommended that Members change the policy to a ‘No DBS Certificate – No Licence’ approach.

Members were advised that applicants were invited to start their renewal application and obtain their DBS and Medicals up to 3 months prior to the expiry of their licence to limit the potential for the licence to lapse. Most delays in DBS certificates being returned were as a result of the applicant failing to provide all the information for the application in a timely manner. With the new online system they register then delay the process by waiting before they are reminded to complete the ID verification. If they complete all the application steps swiftly, then the DBS is usually processed within 7 days.

In considering this and following discussion amongst Members it was proposed by Councillor Gordon France, seconded by Councillor Cronshaw and subsequently RESOLVED to; d) remove the allowance (when a driver has made a timely application for a DBS check i.e. 28 days before the renewal date) for a Licence to be renewed in the absence of the DBS certificate.

Members were asked to resolve a deficiency in the vehicle conditions and attach an age limit of six weeks to the HPI check at the point it is presented with the vehicle for inspection, to prevent old checks being presented. At present the Council would have to accept these, as the Policy does not currently require the HPI to be recent in nature and does not support the need for a more up to date check. Six weeks was considered a suitable age for the HPI check with officer discretion as it would allow enough time for an applicant to have the check made before purchasing the vehicle and have the log book returned by the DVLA.

Following discussion it was proposed by Councillor Jean Cronshaw, seconded by Councillor Adrian Lowe, and subsequently RESOLVED that; e) an age limit of six weeks be attached to the HPI check required by the vehicle conditions with Officer discretion included.

Members were informed about a consultation response received from the Council’s Customer Services Department. It was requested that with particular regard to new driver applications, the Policy require all supporting documentation, such as a DBS certificate, medical, driver qualifications be submitted before the application is accepted and the fee taken. This exercise was already encouraged, however not currently set out in the policy to support this.

It was felt that this would improve efficiency and reduce the administration in chasing up elements of the application or processing refunds for rejected applications. The only item outstanding after the acceptance of the application and fee would be the knowledge test and associated safeguarding training and test, which would be arranged with the Council on receipt of the application.

Following discussion it was proposed by Councillor Jean Cronshaw, seconded by Councillor Gordon France and subsequently RESOLVED that; f) all supporting documentation be provided to Customer Services before a new driver application can be accepted.

With regards to the implementation of the Consolidated Taxi Licensing Policy itself, it was proposed by Councillor Adrian Lowe, seconded by Councillor Jean Cronshaw and subsequently RESOLVED that; g) the Consolidated Taxi Licensing Policy be implemented with immediate effect.

Members agreed that the Consolidated Taxi Licensing Policy was a living document and therefore it was proposed by Councillor Adrian Lowe, seconded by Councillor Gordon France and subsequently RESOLVED that; i) a formal review of the Consolidated Taxi Licensing Policy be timetabled for 3 years.

j) delegated power be granted to the Director of Early Intervention and Support in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair to make amendments to the policy from time to time arising from changes to legislation or case law.

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