Hackney carriage and private hire news and information

Dear members of the trade

Thank you for taking the time to look at this newsletter, I know you are busy people. I would ask that you do take the time to read this I am sure some of it will be of interest to you and it keeps you up to date with what is going on with licensing.

Forums

Looking ahead to 2023 the first forum next year will take place at the Hythe Centre Egham on Wednesday 22 March 2023 11:00 till 12:00.

Please come along and if you have anything you would like to discuss let me know before Monday the 20 March 2023 and I will put it on the agenda.

Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Disabled Persons) Act 2022 – mandatory disability awareness training

Please note this information will also be sent to you in letter form.

A report went before the Regulatory Committee on 4 January 2023 to discuss whether we should make disability awareness training a mandatory licensing requirement for all drivers and operators.

The recent consultation results were included in the report to the Committee

• Agenda for Regulatory Committee on Wednesday, 4 January 2023, 7.30 pm – Runnymede Borough Council

After much discussion the Committee decided that making disability awareness training a  mandatory required for all existing and new drivers and operators was something we should be doing. Councillors and officers were very aware of the extra work and cost for individuals but felt that drivers would benefit from training as it would protect them from inadvertently breaking the law in what can be a difficult area of legislation to understand and that providing  drivers and operators with an understanding of their legal duties towards disabled users was beneficial to all.

The changes to our policy are now in place so carrying out disability awareness training is now a mandatory requirement for all drivers and operators.

The draft minutes of this meeting can be seen below

Regulatory Committee 4 January 2023 - draft minutes

How does this effect existing drivers and operators?

You will have to carry out disability awareness training within the next 6 months (by 15 July 2023), we believe that is a reasonable amount of time in which to get this done. If you can’t get it done or refuse to get it done you may have your licence suspended or revoked but I would sincerely hope that we never get to that stage. If you are having problems getting it done on time, please contact the licensing section and discuss it with us, we are here to help you.

The training takes 2 – 4 hours and is carried out online, the cost is approximately £40 per person. Unfortunately, you do have to fund this yourself as there was no other source of funding.

The training is provided by any of 3 established companies who also carry out many other training programmes for drivers and operators such as safeguarding and driving assessments, so they are aware of your roles and responsibilities. Other companies who provide this training may come to light at a later stage and if so, they will be added to our list of providers.

The training provided by these 3 companies are very similar and cover the new legislation within the Equality Act with respect of all the duties of drivers and operators towards accepting passengers with disabilities.

You must carry out this training with any one of the companies below, the links shown below will take you straight to the disability awareness training booking page. It is up to you to arrange the training yourselves the Council have no part in making arrangements or contracts with any of the training providers.

• https://www.greenpenny.co.uk/taxi-driver-disability-awareness/
   
• https://www.bluelamptrust.org.uk/disability-classroom-course/
   
• https://www.equo.co.uk/disability-awareness-training-for-taxi-drivers/

Once your training is complete send your certificate of attendance/completion to the licensing section by email/scanned photo etc, we do not need the original copy. Please do this within 6 months as stated above and no later than the 15 July 2023.

You will not have to carry out any refresher training on this subject, this is a one-off course.

If you have any questions or concerns about this training, please contact the licensing section to discuss the matter.

Licence fees for 2023/2024

The licensing fees for the year 2023/2024 were approved by the Regulatory Committee on 8 November 2021.

The fees list is shown at the end of this newsletter for your information.

The difference in fees for vehicles is due to the cost of the ranks at the railway stations this has increased due to their being fewer hackney carriages and the cost of fares changes and adverts.

SWR charges the Council £5000 (plus vat) for ten bays at stations, we pay this yearly and recover this through the HC vehicle fee.

This is still a very good deal with SWR, around £105 a year is far less than surrounding areas drivers pay direct to SWR for ranks spaces.

Despite the Council having an increased taxi licensing deficit any fee rises have been kept to a manageable scale and several charges have reduced.

Making payments

All drivers and operators are sent a fees list in March, keep this in a safe place so you know the fees when it comes to paying. They are also on our website.

• Hackney Carriage and private hire licensing fees – Runnymede Borough Council

If calling to pay by card, please call 01932 838383 and choose option 5 to speak to a customer services advisor who will be happy to take your payment. Please let them know what licence you are paying for - Drivers or vehicle.

Alternatively, if you would rather make a bank transfer, please let us know and we will be happy to send you the Bank details and reference number needed.

Bank transfer to the account below adding your surname and using code

• FLRT5886 for vehicles,
• FLRT5843 for 1-year licences and
• FLRT5844 for a 3-year licence.

For operators use

• FLRT5846 for 1-year licences
• FLRT5847 for a 5-year licence.

Lloyds Bank

30-80-12 sort code

11208060 account number