ROUND THE COUNCILS
BLAENAU GWENT: AGE LIMIT ON WAV TAXIS RELAXED
The age limit on wheelchair accessible taxis is set to be relaxed in Blaenau Gwent. This will be done in the hope that it will increase the number of fully WAV taxis in the county borough. At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s General Licensing committee on March 13, councillors debated tweaks that need to be made to its draft ‘Policy Relating to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licences’. This follows changes made by central government which has seen the Welsh Government publish it’s ‘Guide to Harmonisation of Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing in Wales’ and the UK Government’s DfT’s ‘Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards’. Trading standards and licensing team manager, Steve Osborne told councillors that following a consultation, the main changes for the council’s policy relate to CCTV and WAVs. He said: “There was a request to change the council’s WAV policy and lower the age limit to ten years as these vehicles are expensive.” The policy currently requires this type of vehicle to become a licensed taxi within five years of the vehicle being registered. Mr Osborne said that the council’s transport department which examines the road worthiness of taxis “have no objections in principle,” to the proposal. Cllr Malcolm Cross asked how many taxis have wheelchair access in Blaenau Gwent and whether there are grants available to help taxi drivers buy them. Senior licensing officer Helen Jones said: “We have around four to six vehicles that can carry a particular size wheelchair without being dismantled and the passenger having to get out of the wheelchair. That’s out of about 120 licensed vehicles. “If it were easier for people, we’d get more vehicles in the fleet.” Committee chairwoman, Cllr Lisa Winnett said: “It would help so many people.” Mr Osborne said that “if it’s the will of the committee” he would also investigate whether there are grants available to help buy these vehicles. If so, Mr Osborne would write to taxi drivers to tell them. Councillors were also asked to decide whether CCTV should be voluntary or “mandatory” for taxis to have them. Cllr Cross said that if he owned a taxi firm he would be “far happier” if his drivers had cameras. Data protection officer, Steve Berry, explained that the problem with compelling taxi firms to have CCTV
52
is “who controls” the data. Mr Berry said: “The problems we face is by mandating it, we do exercise an element of control and responsibility and would need to tell taxi companies when and how to use it. “With a voluntary one there’s nothing to stop the taxi company seeing the worth and need of it and putting that system in place – they take full control of that data and how it’s used.” Councillors voted unanimously to support the changes to the policy and also to investigate whether there is grant funding to help drivers buy WAV taxis.
NORTH SOMERSET: UNLIMITED TESTS AND NEWER VEHICLES
People applying for taxi driver licences from North Somerset Council will no longer face a cap of five attempts at the knowledge test - but some might need to buy a newer car. Currently, taxi drivers are only able to retake the knowledge exam a maximum of five times. But Cllr, Peter Bryant, proposed an amendment to the five tests cap at a meeting of North Somerset Council’s licensing committee on February 7, arguing: “It shouldn’t be full and final.” Under the new policy, which will be subject to public consultation before coming into effect, taxi driver applicants who have failed the test five times will get another chance to take the exam after six months. Drivers will be expected to familiarise themselves with the district's roads in that time, but the option to wait another six months and have another attempt at the test will still be there for applicants who keep failing the test. The rules around which cars can be used as taxis were also agreed upon at the meeting. Currently, vehicles can be up to eight years old when first registered as a taxi. But under the updated rules, no car older than five years will be able to be registered as a taxi. Vehicles will also not be allowed to be taxis if they have previously been written off as an insurance loss for any reason. Currently, vehicles written off under category S or N but then repaired could be registered as taxis if an inspector agreed it was safe. Drivers of taxis that are already licensed but would not be able to get a new licence under the updated rules may still be able to continue getting their vehicle re- licensed under “grandfather rights.” The updated policies will not come into effect until they have gone through public consultation.
APRIL 2023 PHTM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90
