ROUND THE COUNCILS CORNWALL:
DRIVERS CALL FOR 8-INCH RULE TO BE AXED
Taxi drivers have called for Cornwall Council
to relax
rules around the minimum legroom provided in cabs saying the current eight-inch rule “could end drivers’ careers”. According to Corn- wallLive, the measure- ment is taken from the edge of the seat cushion to the rear of the seat or object in front. However some taxi drivers say that this rule means that some modern vehicles do not meet the re- quirements due to centre consoles and air conditioning units. One suggestion is that
should alter
the council the
guidelines so that
the gap has to be a minimum six inches. A taxi driver from Bodmin said: “As an experiment I took a tape measure to a garage, I measured the gap in a BMW 5 Series saloon, BMW 5 Series estate, Jaguar XF saloon and a Volvo V70 estate, the biggest cars they have for sale - all failed the eight inch rule.” He added: “In tough times the cost of expensive vehicle changes could be the end of some drivers’ careers.” In a submission to the committee Mike Brown, from Parnells Taxis, said that the rule “is a major problem for us”.
He wrote: “There is a large percentage of saloon cars that are already plated as taxis that will no longer be plated for three passengers in the rear which will become a major problem for
the
whole taxi trade.” In a report to the committee licensing officers have sug- gested that
the
requirement could be removed and officers could make a judgement them- selves on whether vehicles are com- fortable. Cornwall Council’s mi s c e l l a n e o u s licensing committee was to consider the report when it met on Friday April 12.
BRISTOL: Bristol
DRIVERS’ CRIMINAL CHECKS FULL OF FLAWS is set to
tighten up its crimi- nal checks on taxi drivers after the sys- tem was found to be full of holes. Internal auditors as- sessed Bristol City Council’s licensing system in the wake of various sexual abuse scandals and found DBS checks to be flawed. BristolLive reports that the council’s chief internal auditor Jonathan Idle said that one of the chief concerns was the council’s lack of records
showing
whether DBS checks had taken place. The auditors were also worried by the number of tempo- rary renewal
li-
cences being issued while the council waited for back- ground check infor- mation to arrive. The auditors also found that en- hanced DBS checks were not being re- quested
often
enough to ensure the licensing com- mittee had up-to- date
information 12
about an applicant’s criminal convictions. There was also no assurance that checks performed on DBS documents were ac- curate or that DBS details were record- ed accurately. And there was not enough control over the issuing of dupli- cate licences or over the stationery used to produce taxi licence plates and taxi driver badges. Mr Idle said his team made nine recom- mendations to ad- dress the problems, all of which will be put in place. The licensing assess- ment was carried out after the DfT pub- lished a report in September
containing 34 rec- ommendations
2018 to
make the licensing of taxi and PHVs safer and more robust. Cllr Afzal Shah, said Bristol-licensed taxis were “in the minori- ty” in the city now. He asked whether the council was working
closely
enough with neigh- bouring authorities
to manage the risks associated with taxi drivers licensed out- side Bristol. Fiona Tudge, head of
safeguarding,
said: “We have got to reach out and work with our neighbouring auth- orities who are also working with the same issues.” Mmmm… This cer- tainly illustrates some serious flaws that threaten any safe- guarding measures which are being con- sidered by
the
council. As regards temporary renewals, this mechanism is used by a few other councils to enable drivers to stay in work whilst they await the return of their DBS. However, they have to sign a disclaimer against any adverse information turned up by the Stage Four police check. So why the significant in- crease in Bristol last year? Is there statisti- cal evidence that proves these tempo- rary renewals were issued to substan- dard drivers? – Ed.
MAY 2019
A requirement for taxi drivers in North Lanarkshire to pass a geographic knowl- edge test is being extended to private hire drivers as well. The council adopted the measure at a meeting of
the
finance and re- sources committee. Cllr Claire Barclay told the Motherwell
Times: “As a fre- quent user of PHVs I have had issues with drivers not knowing the area and relying on satnav.” The council officers reporting to the committee had re- commended contin- uing the status quo due to the fact only five complaints ag- ainst PH drivers had
NORTH LANARKSHIRE: KNOWLEDGE TEST FOR PH DRIVERS
been made in the past five years. How- ever, several mem- bers of the commit- tee said that based on their own deal- ings the true num- ber of drivers dis- playing a lack of the required knowledge was much higher. Therefore members backed this change by 24 votes to 11.
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