Taxi Driver Online

Have your say on taxi licensing proposals in the Royal Borough



Residents, taxi drivers and groups are invited to have their say on taxi licensing proposals in the Royal Borough.

The council’s Licensing Panel has asked for a consultation on possible changes to the livery of taxis, including reducing or removing this, or if any changes should be linked to a move to electric or hybrid vehicles as and when this happens, so that they can be identified.

Taxis licensed by the council are currently required to be white with a purple bonnet and boot and a large council coat of arms on the side.

Alongside this, the council is also seeking people’s views on DBS requirements for all licensed taxi and private hire drivers.

A six-week consultation is underway and residents have until Friday 22 December to respond and can take part by visiting https://rbwmtogether.rbwm.gov.uk/taxi-consultation.

Councillor Simon Werner, the Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Community Partnerships, Public Protection and Maidenhead, said: “A request to consult taxi users on possible changes to the livery of licensed taxis operating in the borough was made by our Licensing Panel last month and it’s important we get your views.”

Councillor Mandy Brar, chair of the Licensing Panel, said: “I’d encourage residents to take a look at the proposals carefully and give us their feedback.

“Alongside this, please also give us your views on DBS requirements for all taxi and private hire drivers operating in the borough. All feedback will be carefully considered before any decisions are made by the panel next year.”

If you don’t have online access, you are welcome to use the public-access computers available at all local libraries, where staff are happy to help you get online if needed. If you require paper copies of the consultation documents and response form, these are also available from all libraries upon request.

The consultation results will be reported to Licensing Panel meeting in February next year.

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IDFIMH

Don't really know much about DBS checks, so I've nothing to say about this (for a change...), but just wondering what happened to the stuff about the huge (and lopsided) council logo on the HCs, and the purple bonnets?


Council approves ‘radical change’ to background checks on taxi drivers

https://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk ... ivers.html

The council has approved a ‘radical change’ to implement six-monthly criminal background checks on taxi drivers.

At a licensing meeting on Tuesday, councillors voted in favour of all licensed hackney carriage and private hire drivers having their DBS checked for new information every six months.

The incurred charges will be covered by individual drivers and penalty points will also be introduced for non-compliance.

A public consultation over the proposed DBS changes showed that 81.9 per cent of respondents agreed with the new six-monthly checks, and a third-party ‘DBS Update Service Status Checks’ facility is the preferred option.

However, taxi drivers’ representative Mr Jaffri told the panel that the 68 per cent of people who said Hackney carriage drivers should bear the costs were ‘highly’ misled by the question.

He suggested that if the cost to the driver was mentioned, it would have been ‘overturned’ and said switching from a three-year to a six-month DBS check is ‘too radical a change for us to bear’.

Mr Jaffri added: “At the last licensing meeting, we were under the impression that this would be cheaper than doing the current three-year DBS check.

“The payment is too much. A lot of drivers are struggling, and it is hard to make a living.

“We have been advocating in the past to lessen the burden on taxi drivers. When is the council going to do something for the drivers?

“Why is that whatever the licensing council introduces, the drivers are always made to pay, like delivery of a new car, safeguarding and so on?

He suggested the council should foot the bill to ‘ensure how seriously they are willing to help drivers’.

The DBS costs would be an initial £59 fee to sign up for the online service, £13 per year for the DBS Update Service, and £7.20 per year for the ‘DBS Update Service Status Checks’ facility.

The £7.20 would be waived for the first year and recharged to the borough.

The council would recover this cost by increasing the hackney carriage and private hire drivers’ licence charges in April next year.

Drivers will pay £72 in the first year of the scheme and £20.20 in all subsequent years.

Trading standards and licensing manager Greg Nelson said it would take time for drivers to get used to the new system and some leeway would be given for innocent non-compliance.

However, it was proposed that penalty points be introduced for drivers who did not comply after advice and assistance were given.

If 12 points are accumulated in a year, a decision would be made on whether the driver is still fit to hold a licence.

Councillor Jack Douglas (Lib Dem, St Mary’s) said the hackney carriage badge was a symbol of trust and Councillor John Story (Con, Ascot and Sunninghill) added that the six-monthly DBS checks were ‘incredibly important’ for vulnerable residents and taxi users.

RBWM mayor Councillor Neil Knowles (OWRA, Old Windsor) said he supported the recommendation as it made things easier for officers and drivers, and was cheaper for drivers in the long run.

He proposed the recommendation put forward by officers which was seconded by Councillor K Singh and the council voted by majority in favour.

A *public* consultation, eh? What's the betting the response was minuscule in terms of numbers. And that those who did respond were unlikely to disagree with more *safety* checks

(The s-word there annoys me a bit, because it's one of those buzzwords that thrown around to justify all sorts of over-the-top and disproportionate stuff, while at the same time real safety issues are ignored. Safety is paramount, blah, blah )

A waste of council time and money just to prove that the original (oh so popular not) changes were justified.

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Is it really a 'radical change' to adhere to Statutory Guidance from the DfT, or is it merely adhering to the law of the land?

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IDFIMH

Councillors agree major changes in look of Royal Borough licensed taxis

Major changes to the look of the Royal Borough’s licensed taxis were agreed at a licensing panel meeting this week.

The taxis – known as Hackney Carriages – have sported a white and purple colour scheme for a number of years, with the council’s coat of arms featured on both back doors of the vehicle.

But on Monday night, councillors voted to scrap this scheme following a plea from drivers.

They will now be able to drive vehicles of any colour.

In February, the panel agreed to make changes to the look of the current livery to ‘ease the burden on drivers’ in relation to aspects such as the costs of having to make changes to their vehicles.

But this was all while still ensuring the cars were recognisable and featured the borough’s crest.

At the meeting, councillors had five options to choose from when deciding the look of the new livery.

Options included a requirement for all vehicles to be white, silver or grey or vehicles to be any colour.

Speaking at the meeting, three of the taxi drivers urged the panel to let drivers choose the colour of their cars to reduce their financial burden.

Cllr Richard Coe (Lib Dem, Riverside), said the purple and white colour scheme made the licensed taxis harder to imitate.

He said: “The argument made is that the more complicated the livery, the more secure it is.

“At the same time, the current livery and more complicated liveries, represents a significant restriction of trade.

“It imposes on small businesses, often sole traders - with one or two, maybe three cars – a lot of extra red tape in the form of a complicated livery and also makes procuring their vehicles more difficult.”

He added: “Our taxi drivers do not buy their vehicles new from the manufacturer. They are not ordering them in the colour we specify, when they buy them.

“Our taxi drivers are buying their cars at car auctions and that greatly reduces their costs.

“To try and source the make and model that they wish to buy in a particular colour increases the complexity and expense of sourcing the car.”

Highlighting the impact on drivers, Cllr Geoff Hill (Ind, Oldfield), said: “My view is I’m very much with the drivers on this.

“My concerns is that on insisting on white cars with the livery on the side, then we’re pushing it a little too far.”

Cllr Hill said he is in favour of having the crest on the side of the car and the lights on top.

But insisting on white is ‘pushing it too far’, he added.

“The feeling I get, is it could push some of the drivers out of business.”

Fellow councillors recognised the importance of safety for residents, but also agreed with Cllr Hill’s sentiments over the impact on drivers.

The panel unanimously agreed to allow taxi drivers to drive vehicles in any colour.

The new changes will apply to all new taxi vehicles from January 31, 2025 and will be optional for existing vehicles.

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IDFIMH

I have just asked our council for the justification for outsourcing this check. I can do a DBS update check in less than 5 minutes and the same for a DVLA check. So doing that twice per year would be around 20 minutes per driver and we have 56 drivers. Our Council put it to the licensing committee that it was costing £8800 per year to do these checks so so around £440 per hour.

We have to be on the update system which I believe everyone has to be now and it only costs us £13 a year.

So do we. But that £13.00 is about to go up to £16.00 I can't see how our council can say that is was costing them £8800 to carry out the checks on 56 drivers when the actual checks are free so it is only the officers time that should be accounted for or £40 of time for every check they do.

Surely £40 a check is over the top when it only takes seconds to do.

Indeed I now volunteer at a heritage railway I am not required to have a dbs check but if I did their dbs check provider charges them £12.00 for an enhanced check

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector