Information on matters concerning hackney carriages and private hire vehicles - such as changes in procedures, consultations, fees and policies.
July 2021 news
Following the easing of covid restrictions we are now returning to our normal licensing processes. I would like to reassure you that we have been as flexible and pragmatic as we reasonably can during these times and introduced temporary measures to help us all get through this.
Annual report on taxi licensing
The 2021 annual report was presented to the Regulatory Committee on 29 June 2021, this contains the usual statistics and figures.
The Committee also considered the changes which are to be made to our Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy as a result of the Statutory Guidance and revisited the issue of tinted windows.
Briefly the Committee accepted the statutory guidance measures but were not convinced that fitting CCTV in vehicles as a condition or introducing English language tests were appropriate at the moment and the tinted windows issue is to be looked at again in 12 months' time.
You can see the report by accessing our website.
Vehicles
We have noticed some vehicles are looking quite unkempt, please keep your vehicles clean and tidy inside and out, you want to attract customers not scare them off so they go using someone else.
Medical and DSB checks
This applies whether you are working or not.
If your medical or DBS is due or overdue, please arrange to have it done as soon as possible and let us know when your medical appointment is.
Please ensure you book your medicals in plenty of time, we cannot licence you if you do not have your medical.
Please remember you must now as a condition of licensing sign up to the DBS update service.
Knowledge tests
We have been unable to carry out knowledge tests for some time but with being relaxed we are now considering restarting these. We will let you know the situation as soon as matters become clear.
Forums
We have not had a drivers' forum since the pandemic began and we are looking at restarting these.
Our halls are being used for vaccinations at the moment so I will look for another premises, I will keep you updated.
Masks in vehicles
As you know mask for passengers are no longer compulsory in taxis from the 19tJuly 2021.
There is no updated guidance on this yet but we will let you know if this appears.
In the meantime you can still request a passenger wears a mask as a condition of carriage in your vehicle if you wish.
If they refuse to wear a mask and you do not want to put yourself at risk, you can refuse to carry them. We think this is reasonable at the moment and we will not prosecute any driver who refuses to carry a passenger under these circumstances.
This may change following legal advice or new guidance but that is our view for the moment. If matters change we will let you know.
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