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.

1. Forums

The first forum this year will take place at the Hythe Centre Egham on Wednesday 22 March 2023 11:00 till 12:00. If you have anything you would like to discuss let me know before Monday, the 20th March 2023 and I will put it on the agenda.

We only had 2 drivers at the last meeting in October 2022 so do come along if you can, they are for you.

2. Driver medicals

We may shortly be consulting on driver medicals; in brief we are considering whether to decrease the number of medicals you need and the ages at which you need them so that it mirrors the DVLA requirement for group 2.

The Regulatory Committee meet on 15 March to discus this and you will be updated as son as possible. If consultation is approved, we will discuss it and bring along consultation forms at the forum on 22 March.

You can read the Committee report on medicals in full on this linkAgenda for Regulatory Committee on Wednesday, 15th March, 2023, 7.30 pm – Runnymede Borough Council

3. Private hire vehicle door signs

We have had a couple of reports about private hire vehicles not displaying pre booked only door signs. This is a licensing condition for drivers of the vehicles and operators. Please make sure you abide by the conditions of the licence, we will take enforcement action where needed, this is what our policy says-

‘An adhesive or magnetic sign must be placed on both front doors of private hire vehicles containing the wording “Pre-Booked Only”. This can be on the same sign as used by the operator to advertise their business or a separate sign. It must be printed is such a way as to make the wording ‘Pre-Booked Only’ clear, legible and distinguishable from any other signage’.

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

Thanks to those who have carried out the training and sent us their certificates, so far 20 Out of 90 drivers and 2 out of 18 operators have done it.

It seems to be a straightforward process and we have not had any problems raised by those who have done the training. Useful feedback is copied below for your information.

The Greenpenny and Blue lamp trust sites offer courses via zoom/MS meetings. Courses need to be booked in advance (Blue lamp availability was sold out till late Feb). Given the immediate nature of our business, this didn't suit me at all (i.e., I have no idea what requests I will receive for 28Feb!). In summary, not for me. I elected for Equo and though slightly more expensive (£42) and with little detail about the course (duration, means of delivery, timescales etc), made a good choice. Their course is delivered online via their portal and I was able to start it within 20 minutes.

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.

• Taxi driver disability awareness
• Disability classroom course
• 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 15th July 2023.

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

5. Licence fees for the year 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023

You have all been sent a e mail and a printed copy of the new fees so just to remind you. The new fees come into effect on 1 April 2023, if your licence is due for renewal on or after this date it is these new fees you must pay.

6. Getting in touch with the licensing section

We are having some problems with our phones at the moment so if you need to get in touch with us the best way is to email us, if you do need to talk to someone in person email us with your enquiry and phone number and we will call you.