search.noResults

search.searching

dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
BECOME ‘SAFE AND SUITABLE’? This is his reply:


“Hackney carriage and private hire drivers pride themselves on being professional drivers. Their DVLA driving licence is essen- tial to their continued livelihood. As professional drivers their standard of driving should be much higher than those in the population who do not drive for a living. When the Institute of Licensing’s “Guide- lines on Suitability” were being prepared, and subsequently published, it was acknowledged by all involved that any driver can be caught by a speed camera. However for a professional driver, once that has occurred, surely they would take extra care to avoid anything which would lead to addi- tional points and threaten their livelihood?


“In addition, it must be recognised that for a first speeding offence, a speed awareness course is usually offered which will not result in penalty points. It would then take two fur- ther speeding offences before six points were obtained and a fourth before the num- ber on the DVLA licence exceeded seven.


“Other common reasons for penalty points to be imposed on a driving licence, include bald tyres and no insurance which again are offences which should never be committed by a professional driver.


“As this is clearly a very important issue, an FOI request was made to the DVLA.


“I would like to know the percentage of drivers allowed to drive a motor vehicle of any class that has seven points or more on their driving licence. This can be on any date or period of your choosing in 2019.”


“The response was as follows:


“As of 1 June 2019 there were 49,118,341 driving licence holders in GB. Of those, 12,158 provisional licence holders and 122,901 full licence holders had seven or more points on their licence. That equates to 0.27% of the total number of driving licence holders with seven or more points on their licence.”


“Obviously this is a very small segment of those who hold driving licences. In England in 2019 there were 326,000 licensed hack- ney carriage and private hire drivers, so if they reflect the complete population who hold driving licences, that would suggest that only 880 hackney carriage and private hire drivers would fall foul of this limit. If there are more than that, that would sug- gest that these drivers are among the least compliant in the country.


FEBRUARY 2020


“I must also emphasise that these are guide- lines. Local authorities may adopt them, and a great many have which is leading to a far more consistent approach amongst authori- ties, and reducing the incidence of licence shopping. But even if these are adopted, each and every case is considered on its own merits. If an applicant or licensee who falls foul of this requirement makes an appli- cation or has their licence considered, they can make representations as to why the action suggested in the guidelines should not be taken.


“It is also important to note that there was a consultation over these proposals early in 2018 and a great many responses were received. However, not a single response was received from any hackney carriage or private hire driver or representative.”


RESPONSE FROM THE TRADE


David Lawrie of SafeSystems Ltd. respond- ed directly to James Button’s submission as follows:-


“This comment seems to be based very much on assumptions: firstly, it assumes that magistrates only ever issue three points, which is not the case. It also assumes that the speed awareness course is offered, which firstly and more importantly is not available or offered in all areas of the coun- try; and secondly is speed dependant, also dependant on the accused not having undertaken this course within the last three years.


“It fails to recognise that taxi and private hire drivers invariably drive a lot more miles and/or hours than any standard motorist, and therefore assumes once again that it is reasonable to guess that the 0.27 per cent


can be easily used to raise the statistic of the number of licensees who are above seven points on their licences. In reality, a standard motorist would not benefit from the hard- ship argument in a court of law in order to be allowed to keep their licence above 12 points (not just seven) which could very well mean that the 122,901 is more reflective of licensees, which equates to 30 per cent.


“It also assumes that these cases would be decided by licensing committee hearings, when in reality where it is adopted, there would be an automatic decision with not much chance of appeal as any appeal hear- ing would be dismissed as “clearly written in policy”.


“I wonder how many of those trade associa- tions he actually wrote to as a part of the consultation, or was this more a case of internally within the membership of the Institute of Licensing. Let’s be honest - would a trade body write to those it intends to hit hardest for comments and opinions? Would we?”


NPHTA comment: In fairness, James Button asked the National Private Hire and Taxi Association to circulate the IoL guidance document to our members during the con- sultation period, which we did at the time.


In fact we were criticised by a couple of indi- viduals as having supported the precepts of the IoL guidance – which was not the case; we merely circulated the document to our members, as we had been asked so to do. If they did not reply, that was their choice.


You can see from this report that certainly a lot of controversy surrounds the adoption of the Institute of Licensing guidance by indi- vidual councils. We would ask PHTM readers to keep a lookout within your own licensing district, and watch for the phrase “safe and suitable” appearing in future policy consul- tations. That will give you a clue as to whether your licensing authority is consid- ering, or adopting, the IoL guidance as local policy.


We would also stress, as has James Button, that the IoL guidance is just that: guidance, not legislation. For any dramatic sweep of new primary legislation to be brought in nationally, that will require Parliamentary time to debate such legislation… and to determine ultimately whether “fit and prop- er” will indeed be replaced by “safe and suitable”.


Dave Lawrie


James Button will be a keynote speaker at the PHTMExpo - Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 June 2020.


65


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  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112