Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Ann Dickens and Inspector John Turner.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 October, 2015 were agreed as a true record.

-       Unlicensed Drivers driving Vehicles on the Public Highway (Minute No. 22)

Unlicensed Drivers driving Vehicles on the Public Highway

Further to Minute No. 22, Stephen Oliver explained that under the legislation there was an exemption for unlicensed drivers to drive a hackney carriage vehicle as part of an MOT test, but not to drive a vehicle to and from the test. With one exception all the other local licensing authorities did not allow unlicensed drivers to drive vehicles to and from the test station. It was confirmed that a licensed vehicle remained a licensed vehicle at all times unless the licence was surrendered. Trade representatives expressed concerns that the requirements relating to other forms of transport, such as buses, Highways vehicles and emergency vehicles, were not so restrictive, although it was suggested that such concerns would need to be raised by the trade at national level.

It was agreed that the relevant references from the legislation would be circulated with the minutes of the meeting (attached as Appendix A to the Minutes).

-      Item raised by Ann Dickens

Ann Dickens had requested that the issue of drivers licensed by other authorities being sub-contracted to work in the Chesterfield area without having passed the local knowledge test be considered.

It was agreed that this issue was related to the following agenda item and to therefore consider it under that item.

-       Item raised by Trevor Durham (report attached)

Trevor Durham presented a report to suggest changes to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy regarding the use of non-Chesterfield Hackneys used as private hire vehicles within the controlled area of Chesterfield Borough Council.

The report outlined the reasons for these suggested changes arising from the legal precedent set by the Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council v. Fidler, Hussain and Zamanian case (copy of judgement available at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2010/2430.html) and the subsequent challenge to the policy by a local operator to enable him to use hackney carriages (and drivers) licensed by other authorities to undertake bookings locally.

It was confirmed that this Council could not require a non-Chesterfield licensed driver to take and pass the local knowledge test for Chesterfield before accepting such bookings.

The suggested changes to the policy, attached to the report, were intended to place the responsibility for ensuring any such non-Chesterfield licensed vehicles and drivers complied with legal requirements, in order to mitigate the impact on public safety.

Trade representatives were requested to consider the suggested changes and to send any comments or suggestions to Trevor Durham by 5 February in order to produce lawful, workable and enforceable proposals. There would then be consultation with operators before a report on the proposed changes to the policy for the consideration of the Appeals and Regulatory Committee. Trevor Durham agreed to send trade representatives a copy of the report once this was issued.

-       Item raised by Trevor Durham

Trevor Durham reported that a 3% increase in Private Hire and Hackney Carriage fees and charges had been approved by the Appeals and Regulatory Committee, and a schedule of the proposed fees and charges was circulated at the meeting (attached as Appendix B to the Minutes).

The proposed fees and charges would be advertised in the Derbyshire Times and any representations received considered before the proposed implementation on 1 April, 2016.

Further to Minute No. 23, Simon Tranter reported that the capital programme bid for works to enable the use of bus lanes by hackney carriages was due to be considered by the Derbyshire County Council Cabinet in late March. In the event of the bid being successful, the use of each bus lane would be considered on its own merits, but it was not proposed to extend the use to include private hire vehicles in order to minimise the risks to public safety.

Simon Tranter confirmed that details of major roadworks schemes were published on the County Council website (at http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/transport_roads/roads_traffic/roadworks/default.asp for information on planned road closures, temporary traffic lights and roadworks and at

http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/transport_roads/roads_traffic/roadworks/Current_roadwork_activity/default.asp for details of activity at each site).

In the absence of Inspector Turner, it was agreed to defer consideration of any issues to the next meeting.

(A copy of the reported crime figures for the period 1 October – 31 December, 2015 attached as Appendix C to the Minutes.)

Steve Ashby reported that during the past three months no licences had been suspended or revoked.

35 vehicles had failed the vehicle test, and further action was being considered in four cases.

Positive feedback had been received from drivers attending the training sessions on child sexual exploitation, and it was hoped that further sessions would be arranged shortly.

Consideration was being given to changing the timing of the local knowledge test to daytime and comments on this were invited from trade representatives. Representatives requested that consideration be given to simplifying the test and speeding up the process for obtaining a licence. Elected Members agreed to look at the documentation involved.

The Chair suggested that officers arrange for the Elected Members to visit operators to see some of the practical issues first hand.