STATUTORY TAXI AND PHV STANDARDS Basic DBS of all staff working in booking offices 8.8.
Again, perfectly reasonable although it may be difficult to get staff at short notice. Anyone who has ever run a booking office will know that this can be a problem, particularly for small and medium-sized companies who may only have one member of staff working at certain times.
Record keeping 8.13.
Should the destination of a booked journey be recorded at the time of acceptance or on completion of the journey? This is not made clear. Many local authorities require the for- mer but is it necessary? When bookings are accepted from hotel receptionists, via automated voice recognition or in busy walk-in booking offices and drivers are usually tracked via GPS it would be reasonable for the destination to be recorded on completion of the journey.
Passengers also have an annoying habit of changing their minds but surely this is their prerogative.
Points on hackney carriage & private hire driver licences 9.3
I have never agreed with these and Cardiff v Singh certainly frowns upon them. Points cannot be appealed, there is potential for them to be applied arbitrarily or disproportion- ately. There are better alternatives using verbal, written, final warnings followed by suspensions of varying duration applied on the merits of each case. My own local authority agrees with me on this.
Complaints procedure 9.4
As I have already stated, licensing authorities should be inviting comments which caters for any comments or complaints, rather than complaints which is in itself precon- ditioning, subliminal, and suggestive. A driver’s fitness and propriety is determined on the balance of probabilities. Surely such balance can include good deeds on the part of a driver which may have come to their attention through this procedure. We need to raise public confidence in our trade as well as standards.
Suspensions and revocations 9.5 to 9.10
There is little controversy here. There is a reference to: Cardiff v Singh in 9.7:
If a period of suspension is imposed, it cannot be extended or changed to revocation at a later date. Excellent!
Annex – Assessment of previous convictions This all seems perfectly reasonable until I read this:
8
There is a proportionality issue here. I accept that a licensed driver's criminal and conduct record is more relevant than that of a truck or bus driver given that he or she is far more likely to pick up vulnerable persons travelling alone in the small space of a car. Enhanced DBS checks are therefore required of licensed drivers but not of PCV, PSV and HGV drivers who have much less close contact with passengers, if any. However, in terms of driving record, licensed drivers should be treated the same as all other professional drivers.
An HGV driver can carry up to 44 tonnes in weight and will not lose their licence until 12 points have been accrued. A PSV driver can carry up to 73 passengers on a double-deck- er bus. In this regard, so-called ‘professional drivers’ should be treated equally and with regard to proportionality.
An HGV licencee caught using a handheld device will effec- tively lose their licence on the second conviction for this offence. A licensed taxi or PHV driver will lose their licence on the first and before any kind of pattern can be established.
Which of the above is more likely to mow down passengers stranded in or near a broken-down vehicle in Lane 1 of a smart motorway with no hard shoulder because of a lapse of concentration caused by using a handheld device?
I will leave it there. As I have written: fairness and propor- tionality are alluded to within the standards document. Local authorities have good reason to deviate from this document and could easily justify doing so on the grounds of propor- tionality. Licensed drivers should not be treated as lesser beings either by the public or by regulators.
As you can see, change is coming, consultations and amendments are being made within most of your licensing authorities, we have to be ready to embrace, discuss, challenge, and negotiate.
This is where your membership of the NPHTA is essential. We can and will help, support, and assist you with your consultations as we have done for decades nationwide.
Article by: Steven Toy, NPHTA Board member and Trade Leader of the Cannock Chase HC PH Liaison Group
JUNE 2021
Any motoring conviction while a licensed driver demon- strates that the licensee may not take their professional responsibilities seriously. However, it is accepted that offences can be committed unintentionally, and a single occurrence of a minor traffic offence may not necessitate the revocation of a taxi or private hire vehicle driver licence providing the authority considers that the licensee remains a fit and proper person to retain a licence.
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