Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Vickey-Anne Diouf, Stephen Oliver, Chris Brown, Ann Dickens and Jim Brookbank.

Minutes of the Meeting of the Taxi Consultative Committee held on 20 January, 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 January, 2016 were agreed as a true record.

Further to Minute No. 37, it was confirmed that Elected Members would be arranging to go out with enforcement officers on an evening during the summer, including a visit to operators in addition to other enforcement issues.  

Item raised by Trevor Durham (paper attached)

Further to Minute No. 33, Trevor Durham presented a report to suggest changes to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy regarding the use of non-Chesterfield Hackneys working for a Chesterfield operator on a private hire basis.

The changes had been suggested to ensure that the Council’s policy complied with legal requirements following recent case law and attempted to place responsibility on the Chesterfield operators to ensure that such vehicles and drivers met the required standards.

These suggested changes had been circulated to operators for comment and specialist legal advice was being sought on them. 

Consideration was being given to simplifying the geographic part of the local knowledge test for Chesterfield licensed drivers, whilst seeking to maintain standards, but it was confirmed that non-Chesterfield licensed drivers could not be required to take and pass the local knowledge test.

It was noted that at least one Chesterfield operator, and at least one operator in North East Derbyshire, was using licensed vehicles and drivers from outside the area. The records held by the operator complied with current requirements.

Trevor requested that any further comments from trade representatives be sent to him as soon as possible to enable him to prepare a report for the consideration of the Appeals and Regulatory Committee on the proposed changes to policy. He agreed to send a copy of the report to trade representatives once this had been prepared.

Further to Minute No. 35, Simon Tranter reported that the capital programme bid for works to enable the use of bus lanes by hackney carriages had been approved by the Derbyshire County Council Cabinet.

Consideration would now be given to the potential use of each bus lane, based on the merits of each case. Simon was willing to meet with trade representatives on site to consider proposed detailed arrangements in each case.

In response to a question from trade representatives about parking on yellow lines on Stephenson Place late at night, it was confirmed that this was a civil parking enforcement issue, and that recurring problems should be notified to the County Council Highways team to enable them to take targetted action.

Inspector Turner submitted the reported crime figures for the period 1 January to 31 March, 2016 for the Chesterfield and the Bolsover and North East Derbyshire Policing sections, totalling 32 reports, including:

26 occasions where the driver was the victim

2 occasions where a member of the public was the victim

2 occasions where a taxi company was the victim

1 occasion which was racially or religiously aggravated.

1 occasion where the driver was an offender

Timing – 17 crimes were between 0000 hours and 0600 hours.

Violence against drivers – 2 cases

Crime breakdown:

21 – making off without payment

3  – theft

1 – assault on driver

2 – public order offences (1 racially aggravated)

2 – damage to vehicle

2 – damage to taxi office

1 – sexual assault  

The outcomes from investigation of these reported crimes were:

6 – restorative justice

3  - suspect identified (1 charged, 1 reported for summons, 1 fixed penalty notice issued)

7 – suspect identified (6 enquiries ongoing, 1 insufficient evidence)

9 – investigations ongoing

7 – undetected.

In response to a question from trade representatives, it was confirmed that new shift patterns for CCTV operators had been introduced to concentrate availability at times of greatest need. Trevor Durham agreed to notify the details to trade representatives.

Trevor Durham reported that during the previous three months one operator and one driver had been suspended, and that both suspensions had now been served. 

Training on child sexual exploitation was due to recommence in June. 

38 vehicles had failed their test, with penalty points being issued on two occasions. 

Monday 20 June, 2016 at 6.00 pm – Appointment of Representatives

Wednesday 20 July, 2016 at 6.00 pm.