ROUND THE COUNCILS SWINDON:
CARDIFF: PH DRIVERS WORK FOR MULTIPLE FIRMS
Private hire drivers will be able to work for more than one company after a change in policy by Swindon Borough Council.
Members of the authority’s licensing committee voted to approve the change which will see drivers able to sign up with three operating companies at the same time. Licensing manager Kathryn Ashton who put the proposal to the committee told the councillors the current arrangement prevented this: “When we issue a licence to a driver we give them a green form, which they hand to the operator they decide to work for. And that is then registered with us. “It has been done like this for safety of passengers. We can control the hours and fares a driver takes. It means if something happens, and we have a complaint we can ring the operator immediately and stop the driver working while we look into it.” But Ms Ashton told the committee Swindon was in “a minority” of councils who didn’t let drivers work for more than one company and didn’t want to stifle the ability to work for drivers. Private hire firms are against the change saying it could lead to passengers being “dropped” by a driver who has accepted a fare but then is offered a more lucrative journey by a different company, which could be potentially unsafe. But Ms Ashton told the committee the licensing team would monitor that to make sure it didn’t happen, and it was confident it could keep track of drivers who signed up with more than one company. She did say there were still issues that would take some getting used to: “We’d expect a driver to arrive at a pick-up with the livery for the form through which the booking was made on the car, so that will be more of a burden on the driver.” She told the committee it was very easy for a driver to move operators: one just had to request the green form back and move to another company if it agreed to take you. The committee voted to allow a driver to work for up to three companies if they choose and if the operator was willing. The first green form would be issued with the driver’s private hire licence as now, a second one would cost £100 and a third £150. A fourth form would be permitted specifically for airport work.
PHTM JANUARY 2023 CONSULTATION ON DEREGULATION
Cardiff Council will look into a temporary restriction on issuing hackney carriage licences that it has had in place for more than ten years. The council's public protection committee voted to launch a consultation over the possible removal of the authority's moratorium on issuing new hackney carriage licences. Cardiff Council is the only local authority in Wales, and one of a few in the UK, to have such a moratorium in place. The council's licensing department has received a number of complaints from passengers who have been unable to get hackney carriages. It has also seen an increase in reports of hackney carriage drivers cherry-picking and refusing short fares. There is also the issue of the current moratorium, which has been in place at Cardiff Council since 2010, restricting new entrants into the hackney carriage trade unless they are able to purchase a hackney carriage vehicle already licensed in Cardiff and transfer it into their name. This has created a a secondary market in Cardiff for hackney carriage licences and makes it difficult for those wishing to start a career as a self-employed driver to do so due to high costs. A report that was presented to the council's public protection committee revealed that 220 of the current 946 hackney carriage licences are currently on hold. This means there are 726 hackney carriages that are actively licensed in Cardiff. As well as seeing more complaints from passengers the council's licensing department also found that the number of vehicle licences not being actively used has increased in recent years. In 2019 Cardiff Council commissioned an independent survey of Cardiff’s taxi demand. The survey recommended that there was no significant unmet demand and as a result the moratorium was kept. However with the current issues raised by the licensing department and the perceived potential benefits of new drivers being able to put a deposit down on a modern vehicle, instead of having to purchase a hackney carriage vehicle above the market value, the matter has been brought back for review. Once the consultation has been completed a further report will be brought back to the council for consideration.
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
