ROUND THE COUNCILS BIRMINGHAM:
RIBBLE VALLEY: NEW CRACKDOWN ON LICENCE BREACHES
Birmingham could grind to a halt by a taxi go-slow protest due to a controver- sial new crackdown on licence breaches. The
Birmingham
post reports that on Wednesday, 19 Sep- tember
council approved a new penalty point system to punish all sorts of
infringe-
ments - including smoking in vehicles, using mobiles phones while driving and even an ‘unsatisfac- tory’ appearance. But concerns were raised it could be the ‘final nail in the cof- fin’
for drivers
licensed in Birming- ham who are already having to compete with others operat- ing in the city who have been licensed by
neighbouring
councils, particularly Wol ve rhampton where it is cheaper, quicker and arguably easier. However
the city in
where it represents hundreds of
Birmingham taxi
drivers. It argued the system was ‘double jeop- ardy’ for drivers and hit out at the level of enforcement in the city. Raja Amin, secretary ofthe Birmingham Rail branch, also pointed to the situa- tion in Leicester and said: “It would be foolhardy to intro- duce a change with potential to be the source of unrest in the city.” He added: “Birming- hamCity Council has continued to intro- duce measures that make drivers’ lives difficult, despite the council’s failure to introduce
corres-
ponding goodwill changes to protect the trade. “Pirating is rampant in the city. Enforce- ment has
failed council
chiefs have hit back saying standards need to be upheld in Birmingham for pub- lic safety. Officials warned there is a high level of non-compliance with licence condi- tions. A similar scheme was introduced in Leicester in 2015 which
hackney
prompted carriage
drivers to hold ‘go- slow’ demonstra- tions around the city. The RMT transport union, which heavily criticised that sys- tem, has declared it ‘categorically
26
dismally to keep up with the growing brazen disregard for the city byelaws by taxi drivers fromout- side the borough and even local drivers. “This is great hyp- ocrisy as the de- mand for profession- alism seems to flow one way. Drivers are penalised willy-nilly but the city council’s failure to keep their end of the bargain is not put under scruti- ny.” Shawn Woodcock, acting
licensing re- jects’ the proposals
operations manager, said he had ‘sympa- thy’ with drivers due to the out of town operators but de-
clared it was ‘no rea- son to say our standards can be lowered’. He also admitted the council would be powerless to stop any go-slow protest and said: “I think if you are trying to improve public safe- ty,
vehicles and drivers and
only
standards of the
response from the trade is ‘we are going to object and take some sort of action’, to my mind it gives a reason to do it.” If a driver accrues 12 points in 12 months they will be hauled before officers and could be suspended for a week. If they get another 12 points in a subse- quent
12-month
period they could face a two-week sus- pension. If 24 points are obtained in
12
months they will be brought before a licensing sub-com- mittee which will be minded to suspend their licence for an entire month. More than 40 differ- ent breaches have been listed ranging from two points for faulty lights to 12 for carrying an offensive weapon. Other
notable
breaches include un- satisfactory appear- ance (three points), smoking inside the car (four points), defective tyres (four points per
tyre),
overcharging (six points), plying for hire (nine points) and using a mobile phone whilst driving
VEHICLE INSPECTIONS NET GOOD RESULTS
A taxi was taken off the road and the drivers of three oth- ers required to make repairs within seven days after an unan- nounced vehicle in- spection in Clitheroe. According to the Lancashire graph,
Tele- hackney
carriage enforce- ment officers at Ribble Valley Bor-
ough Council joined forces with the police and DVSA staff in the operation to check for unroad- worthy vehicles. Of the 12 taxis inspected at sites around Clitheroe, eight were found to be of the required standard; one driver was served with an immediate prohibi-
tion; and three were served with notices requiring work to be carried out within seven days. The council’s taxi enforcement officer, Carl Rung, said: “Although four vehi- cles were served with notices, we are delighted that most were of an excellent standard.”
TRAFFORD: DRIVERS TO PROVE THEY CAN SPEAK ENGLISH
New taxi drivers may have to prove they can speak English - and pass a local knowledge test - before being allowed behind the wheel in Trafford. According to the Manchester Evening News, there are also plans to provide a dual badge for both hackney
carriage
and private hire drivers - and the cost of a licence is set to go up. Council chiefs plan to ask applicants to provide a relevant English
language
certificate. They have not yet decided on the new fee because the for- mat of the local knowledge
exam
needs to be agreed, and the work in- volved calculated. The cost of a three- year
licence is
currently £432 and includes the price of a training course and DBS check. Town hall bosses plans to change the
current system in a bid to crack down on the number of licence applications it receives from out of town drivers. In 2015, Trafford council scrapped the requirement for taxi drivers to pass a knowledge test - the only town hall
in
Greater Manchester to do so. The range of ac- ceptable qualifica- tions
to prove
English skills was also extended, in a bid to speed up the process. But since a change in policy the council has received ‘several
thousand’
expressions of inter- est
from drivers
wanting a licence. “A significant am- ount of these are from people living out of the area,” a town hall
report
reads. “In the absence of a local knowledge test there seems to be a perception with ap- plicants that it is easier to obtain a
licence in Trafford than other authori- ties.” Members of
the
council’s public pro- tection sub-com- mittee were to con- sider the plan. The town hall ran a public consultation on the changes in June. Nearly 700 people responded. A report said some agreed with the rein- troduction of
knowledge test, say- ing it’s ‘frustrating’ that drivers are not familiar with the area and take longer routes than necessary. Others said sat navs have made the test ‘obsolete’. There was strong support for a re-quirement
drivers to speak flu- ent English,
for the
report added. “Every- one who responded said good communi- cation was
an
essential part of being a driver - par- ticularly for vul- nerable people using the service,” papers added.
OCTOBER 2018
the
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 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
