ROUND THE COUNCILS LEICESTER:
TAXI STRATEGY AGREED TO IMPROVE STANDARDS
Improvements to the quality of taxi services and vehicles will be made in order to make taxi travel easier and safer for passengers. Leicester City Council has drawn up the Taxi Strategy which sets out a series of improvements to standards within the local taxi trade, to be brought into effect between now and 2025. Some measures will be brought in straight away, while some longer-term improvements will be the subject of public consultations before they can be introduced. The aims include improving customer service, safety and ensuring the trade is well regulated and supported by the city council, as well as a commitment to increase the number of low-emission vehicles in service. The strategy will also look to tighten regulation around taxi drivers who are registered elsewhere but who operate with- in Leicester and will consider the introduction of CCTV within vehicles to improve the safety of both customers and drivers.
Announcing the Taxi Strategy on 29 April, Leicester deputy city mayor responsible for regulatory services, Cllr Piara Singh Clair, said: “This strategy brings together the work which is already ongoing around both private hire and hackney carriage standards, and sets out how we will operate over the coming years to improve services and meet our environmental commitments. “We’ve already carried out consultation work with the taxi trade, passengers and other local stakeholders, and while some of the improvements in this strategy can be brought in fairly soon, others are likely to involve further consultation. “In particular, we will be looking at working more closely with neighbouring licensing authorities, such as Wolver- hampton, to assess the impact of taxis licensed elsewhere operating in the city.” Some of the commitments set out in the strategy could be brought in over the next few months, including an clear comprehensive standards for drivers and operators, updated conditions of fitness and environmental sustainability of vehicles, and a better structure for consultation between taxi drivers, operators, unions and the city council. There is also a commitment to joined-up operations with other councils, and better sharing of driver and vehicle records with police and neighbouring councils. Medium-term aims include putting in place cashless payment options in all private hire and hackney carriages. Other planned measures include working with other councils to regulate ‘out of town’ drivers and better training and development of licensing staff working with the taxi trade Discussions are also planned to investigate the feasibility of more shared services in taxi licensing and regulation. Over the next few years, there are plans to bring in online facilities for drivers or operators to make applications,
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renewals and payments, and ensuring all customers will be able to choose when making a booking between an ultra-low-emission or diesel vehicle, as well as being able to select wheelchair-accessible vehicles. The introduction of CCTV and GPS tracking on all taxis will also be considered. There are currently almost 2,000 taxi drivers licensed by Leicester City Council, and around 1,300 PHVs run by 93 dif- ferent operators, as well as just over 230 hackney carriages.
BRADFORD: LICENCES REVOKED AFTER OPERATION
Three cabbies had their licences revoked as 32 motorists were penalised following a police operation in a Bradford area. Operation ‘Let’s Go Bowling’ was led by Neighbourhood Policing Teams and Operation Steerside officers, who worked alongside multi-agencies, to act on community concerns regarding unsafe roads and motoring offences. The operation took place in the Bowling and Barkerend areas of Bradford on Thursday, May 12 in order to to make them safer for all those using the roads in those localities. Taxi licensing officers dealt with numerous offences which resulted in the three licences of those drivers being revoked.
NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE: ROADSIDE SPOT-CHECKS CARRIED OUT
A series of roadside spot-checks of local taxi and private hire vehicles were carried out in May by officers from North East Lincolnshire Council’s licensing team. The Grimsby Telegraph reports that the team a total of 29 random inspections took place across the borough, with spot checks carried out on each vehicle and their driver. The inspections found a small number of issues: Two drivers did not have their ID badges One vehicle did not have a ‘no smoking’ sticker (taxis are required to display a ‘no smoking’ sticker) One vehicle had no approval to use CCTV, but was display- ing CCTV stickers Councillor Ron Shepherd, portfolio holder for safer and stronger communities at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “It’s important than the standards of our taxis are the highest that they can be and that they are, of course, safe for local residents. “I’m pleased to say that the majority of drivers do uphold these standards and I thank them for that. On this occasion, the issues that were picked up on are relatively minor, so drivers have been spoken to and the issues will be monitored until they are fixed.”
JUNE 2022
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