186.
Shaun Moore attended the meeting and addressed the Committee in accordance
with the Council’s Have Your Say! procedures. He was a hackney carriage driver in
Colchester and wished to raise a number of his concerns and suggestions to the
Committee, which included:
- Private hire vehicles parking in and around town when not engaged on jobs,
including parking on taxi ranks.
- Out of town private hire vehicles working for private hire companies in
Colchester, were these vehicles subject to spot checks from Colchester
Officers?
- Unlawful parking by take away delivery company vehicles, and parking of
vehicles on the taxi rank at Head Street
- was it possible to for a ‘traffic
warden blitz’ to take place in the town centre after 9.00pm to stop this?
- The installation of barriers along the High Street taxi rank to encourage
customers to queue in an orderly fashion when taxi marshals were not
available to control disorder.
- The use of mystery shoppers by the Council to enforce standards in the
licensed trade.
- Would licenced taxis, and not private hire vehicles, be allowed to use the bus
lanes around Colchester, as this would reduce congestion and lower fares for
passengers. Taxis were allowed to use bus lanes in other local districts such
as Chelmsford.
Paul Donaghy, Licensing, Community Safety & Safeguarding Manager, thanked Mr
Moore for addressing the Committee and confirmed that he was aware of some of
the issues which had been raised, having recently had a meeting with the Chair of
the Colchester Hackney Carriage Association. Consideration was being given to
using Officers who were unknown to the hackney carriage and private hire trade (the
trade), and in his personal opinion it would be advantageous for taxis to be able to
use bus lanes. Continued dialogue with Mr Moore covering all the points which had
been raised would take place after the meeting.
A Committee member noted that the Council’s official position was that to cycle or
walk was healthy and better for population, and to make it safer it was sometimes
necessary to construct cycle lanes, which overall relieved congestion as well as
conferring an air quality benefit. The Council was absolutely not anti-car or anti-taxi
but had to represent different interests to provide people with a choice.
Christine Bell, owner of Panther Cabs in Colchester, attended the meeting and
addressed the Committee under the Council’s Have Your Say! provisions. She was
the manager of the largest fleet of licensed vehicles in Colchester and the third
largest in Essex, and had been involved with the licensed trade for over 40 years.
She requested that the Committee give consideration to relaxing the age
requirements for buying vehicles from 5 years to 7 years to reflect the difficulties
being caused by the current economic climate. She raised concerns about the length
of time which it was taking for driver’s badges to be issued by the Council. A friend of
hers had taken 14 weeks to get a badge and had been out of work during this time.
She considered that there were lots of problems and issues to be sorted out in the
trade, and would like a meeting with the licensing team to discuss these issues. The
most important issue at the present time was drivers and vehicles licensed by
Wolverhampton Council working in Colchester. Did the Council know who they were,
were they subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, were the vehicles
roadworthy, and did the Council have contact details for the drivers? Serious issues
with the taxi trade in Rochdale had been in the news recently, and similar
occurrences had to be prevented in Colchester. Had drivers licensed by
Wolverhampton taken a safeguarding course which was required by Colchester
Council? The public needed to be sure that every driver in Colchester had been
checked before being allowed to work here, and she was anxious to ensure that
safety standards were as high as they could be to protect vulnerable members of
society.
Christine expressed disappointment that she had only recently been in contact with
the Licensing, Community Safety & Safeguarding Manager, who responded to clarify
that his role was significantly different from that of his predecessor with a wider
range of responsibilities which extended beyond the licenced trade. He was happy to
set up regular meetings with the trade to discuss any issues which had arisen.
The Committee discussed the issue of vehicles and drivers licensed by the City of
Wolverhampton working in Colchester for a local company, and noted that this was a
new issue for Colchester, although had occurred elsewhere in Essex. The
Committee hears that the Council did not have the power to conduct its own checks
on any Wolverhampton drivers working in Colchester, as they were licensed by
Wolverhampton, however, direct contact had been made with the Enforcement
Manager at Wolverhampton, who sent out teams to carry out enforcement across the
country, and who would visit Colchester when they were in the Essex later in the
year. The model which allowed vehicles and drivers to operate in this way was
entirely legal, and there was noting that the Council could do to prevent this way of
working at this stage, save for raising its concerns to national government.
The Committee acknowledged that vehicles which were licensed by another local
authority were lawfully entitled to operate in Colchester provided they complied with
legislative requirements, however, it was concerned that the Council had no control
over this. Consideration was given to writing a letter expressing this concern to the
relevant government minister, as it was considered that these issues could only be
effectively addressed at a national level by the introduction of national standards.
The Committee noted that if a complaint was made about a driver working in
Colchester who was licensed by Wolverhampton, then such a complaint would be
dealt with in Wolverhampton by the Council or potentially the Magistrates Court, and
the difficulty in dealing with complaints at such a geographical distance was a further
cause for concern.
The Community Safety & Safeguarding Manager confirmed to the Committee that
drivers who were licensed by Wolverhampton did have to produce an enhanced
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, and were also required to undergo
comprehensive safeguarding training. Additional dialogue would be sought with
Wolverhampton Licensing Officers, and this was supported by the Committee.
RESOLVED that: a letter be written to the Minster for Transport outlining the
concerns felt by the Committee with regard to cross-border hiring, and calling for the
introduction of national standards in relation to the hackney carriage and private hire
licensing regime.