ROUND THE COUNCILS STAFFORD:
BARCODES USED IN VEHICLES FOR COMPLAINTS
A new QR code has been rolled out across taxis in Stafford Borough to help people give feedback to the local council. In Your Area reports that a sticker with the code will be displayed inside taxi and private hire vehicles that are licensed in the borough with customers able to share comments, compliments, or complaints using their phones. The new QR code is part of changes to Stafford Borough Council’s licensing policy to implement the Department for Transport (DfT) Statutory Taxi and Private Hire vehicle standards. The aim is to have a consistent standard and better regulation of the sector. Councillor Jonathan Price, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “We get some great feedback from customers and it’s good to hear how the trade goes that extra mile to help passengers. “We want to make sure that passengers of taxis and private hire vehicles receive the best service, especially as one of the first experiences a visitor may have of the borough is with our licensed trade - picking up customers from railway stations for example. “We have introduced a compliment, comment, complaint sticker to be displayed on the rear, side windows of each licensed vehicle which will be issued to all drivers. “This contains a QR code which puts a customer through to the appropriate form for reporting purposes.” He added that the feedback would also help assess whether a driver was suitable to have a licence. The new measures were brought in following consultation with members of the local hackney carriage and private hire trade, Stafford and District Access Group, police, and Staffordshire County Council earlier this year.
BARROW: NEW STANDARDS TO BE INTRODUCED
New standards on who can hold a licence to drive a taxi are due to be brought in by Barrow Council. According to the North West Evening Mail, new rules on cabbies having criminal convictions, vaping in vehicles and standards of behaviour are due to be signed off by councillors.
Members of the licensing committee considered the new regulations before presenting them to the council’s executive committee. A report said: “The council has a duty to ensure that those licensed to drive hackney carriages and private hire vehicles are suitable persons to do so.
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“The same principle is applied to those licensed to operate vehicles and vehicle proprietors alike.” The draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy 2021 says that applicants for taxi licences should be ‘free from previous convictions’, however ‘a person with convictions, cautions or reprimands will not be excluded from holding a licence but should be expected to have remained free of conviction for an appropriate period and shown adequate evidence of good character from the time of conviction’. Drivers must also notify the town hall within 48 hours if they are interviewed by police under caution, arrested, charged or convicted of a crime. According to documents, a government policy to have CCTV in taxis is not being adopted in Barrow but the change is due to be consulted on in future. New standards of behaviour and dress are also being implemented.
WOKINGHAM: ANGER AS BID TO FREEZE FEES SQUASHED
Anger has followed the bid to freeze licence fees for taxi drivers in Wokingham being thrown out. During a meeting of the licensing and appeals committee earlier this year, it was suggested fees for licensed taxi drivers in Wokingham should be frozen. Previously, licence fees for hackney carriages and private hire drivers, stood at £248, but this has since been increased by £42 to £290 for this financial year (2021/22). There were discussions about an increase in March 2020, but these appear to have been reversed because of the impact of the pandemic. Yet a bid to keep the licence fees at £248 appears to have been ignored by Wokingham Borough Council’s executive committee. At a meeting of licensing and appeals committee in June, Cllr Rachel Burgess proposed freezing licence fees for private hire vehicles a second time. She also suggested that any driver who had paid the higher fee of £290 should be reimbursed the extra £42 they paid, in a motion which was seconded by Cllr Sarah Kerr and passed. But when Cllr Kerr followed up on whether the taxi drivers had been reimbursed, it was revealed at a licensing meeting on Wednesday, October 21 that the suggestion was never properly decided upon by the council’s executive. Responding to Cllr Kerr's question, Stephen Brown, the interim assistant director of place at Wokingham Borough Council said: “The short answer is no. “The executive made a decision that they would not continue to subsidise taxi licences, and that they would revert to the fares that were originally subscribed, so there were no refunds.”
NOVEMBER 2021
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