Agenda item

Report of the Head of Community and Customer Services

The Committee received a report of the Head of Community and Customer Services outlining two proposals for changes to the application criteria for licensed drivers.

The Licensing Manager introduced the report.  The first proposal was to extend the period during which the Council would accept a certificate from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) from applicants.  The idea was to extend the time periods to the time period that the certificate remained valid, currently 12 months.  The second proposal was to exempt relevant applicants from having to pass the wheelchair-handling assessment provided they had completed a disability awareness course approved by the Council.  This requirement would apply to both private hire drivers and hackney carriage drivers.

Councillor Khan commented that it was important that all drivers undertook such training.  He asked how frequently the training was offered by the external providers.

The Licensing Manager responded that the courses tended to last one day.  One approved provider offered them monthly and the other offered them every other month.  The Council would also accept evidence from elsewhere.  The application process also tended to last a couple of months so attending a course in this timescale was achievable.

In response to a further question from Councillor Khan, the Licensing Manager explained that all hackney carriage drivers had been required to undertake the course in the past.  However, when a limit on the number of licenses available was imposed the level of demand for the courses fell.  There had only been approximately three licences granted since the limit was introduced.  The Council could cover the costs for these drivers.  The private hire drivers were required to undertake a refresher course every six years which included disability awareness training. 

Councillor Mauthoor asked whether drivers were trained in other areas such as First Aid as she was concerned about child passengers suffering from sickness or illness during the journeys.  She noted that some companies operated contracts for schools.  The Licensing Manager advised that incidents of this type were very rare.  There was no formal training in place but there was a BTEC and an NVQ available which a large number of drivers had undertaken.  The Environmental Health and Licensing Section Head responded that it was likely that the County Council required taxi companies which operated school contracts to have such training.  She underlined that this was not an area that WBC was involved in and the Council did not employ the taxi drivers.

ACTION - the Licensing Manager to confirm the requirements prescribed by HCC and to inform the Committee.

RESOLVED –

1. that applicants for a hackney carriage driver’s or private hire vehicle driver’s licence

1.               be required to submit with the application a valid certificate to show they have passed an appropriate assessment by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)

2.               be exempt from having to pass the DVSA wheelchair-handling assessment if they have attended a disability awareness course approved by the Council.

2. that from 1 February 2015 applicants for a hackney carriage driver’s or private hire vehicle driver’s licence have to submit evidence that they have attended a disability awareness course approved by the Council, prior to or within three months from the grant of a licence.