WOLVERHAMPTON WORRIES
City of Wolverhampton Council, the second largest licensing authority in the UK after Transport for London, has introduced new licence conditions affecting tens of thousands of operators, drivers and vehicles nationwide.
On 10 July 2024, the council’s Regulatory Committee approved the changes detailed below to come into force from 1 August 2024. To see the tracked changes to the licence conditions, please visit:
https://shorturl.at/CuxyJ
MAIN CHANGES FROM 1 AUGUST:
• All private hire vehicle door operator signage approval withdrawn. Proprietor of the vehicle must remove the signage and drivers must not drive a vehicle with operator door signage.
• Operators must submit new approved A4 signage for the rear of the vehicle which cannot be magnetic. Drivers may only drive a private hire vehicle with this signage if you and all other drivers of that vehicle are in an exclusive relationship with that operator.
• Internal licence plate displaying licence number and passenger capacity is no longer required.
• Drivers may partner with multiple operators and do not need to
notify Licensing Services. The exception to this is for any proprietors of WAVs.
• DBS certificates now required to be seen in person by Licensing Services.
• Drivers are required to undertake a daily walk- around check of their vehicle before driving
• Drivers are required to notify Licensing of any new licences with any other licensing authority, as well as if they are reviewed, suspended or revoked.
• Assistance dogs are defined as: “not a pet, but a working service dog”. To evidence this, the dog must be wearing an identifying harness/jacket or its owner must be carrying certifying document.
•MOT certificates now accepted from any MOT station in the country.
• No age restriction on vehicles which have <75 CO2g/km emissions.
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AGREE OR DISAGREE - CHANGE IS HERE CHANGES FROM NEXT LICENCE RENEWAL:
• Once a training programme has been developed all licensed drivers will be required to attend online or in person as part of their licence renewal.
• All licence applicants (including renewals) must provide a Certificate of Good Character/Conduct if they have been outside of the UK for three or more months continuously since the age of 18.
Dave Lawrie, Director of NPHTA, gives his response to the new conditions and the effect they will have on the trade, bearing in mind the large number of Wolverhampton-licensed vehicles and drivers working in towns and cities across the UK.
VEHICLE SIGNAGE
We have all seen the recent notification from City of Wolverhampton Council that following consultation, the committee has decided that from 1st August 2024, all operator signage is to be removed, including the internal windscreen livery which identifies from the front that the vehicle is licensed.
This change is not exclusive to just Wolverhampton council, it has already been adopted by several other local authorities including Southampton, Manchester, Oldham and Bury and is currently being considered by many others.
The NPHTA has been involved in a number of liaison meetings to discuss why and where these new conditions have come from, and the potential positive and negative effects for both members of our trade and their passengers.
The Wolverhampton consultation was launched (as were consultations for the majority of councils), following the latest Department for Transport best practice guidance issued in November 2023. This was published after a national consultation on various aspects of licensing, including vehicle signage and can be found here:
https://shorturl.at/s60LN AUGUST 2024 PHTM
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