Agenda and minutes

It was noted that following the Borough Council elections on 2 May, 2019, the following elected members had been appointed to serve on the Taxi Consultative Committee for a period of two years from June, 2019 until May, 2021:

·        Councillor Kate Caulfield (Chair)

·        Councillor Dean Collins (Vice-Chair)

·        Councillor Paul Niblock.

The following nominations of trade representatives had been received to represent Private Hire Licence Holders:

·        Mr James Brookbank (with support of 10 licence holders)

·        Mr Mahfozur Rahman (with support of 6 licence holders)

·        Mrs Ann Dickens (with support of 8 licence holders)

No nominations of trade representatives had been received to represent Hackney Carriage Licence Holders.

It was agreed to:

·        confirm the appointment of Mr James Brookbank as a representative of private hire vehicle licence holders from June, 2019 to May, 2021;

·        provisionally confirm the appointment of Mr Mahfozur Rahman and Mrs Ann Dickens as representatives of private hire vehicle licence holders from June, 2019 to May, 2021, subject to the subsequent approval by the Appeals and Regulatory Committee of a revision to the Committee’s terms of reference to allow the appointment of nominated representatives supported by fewer than 10 licence holders;

·        ask the three previous representatives of hackney carriage licence holders whether they would consider being nominated as representatives for 2019 – 2021, and if necessary to seek further nominations to the three representatives of hackney carriage licence holders for this period.

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Ann Dickens, Trevor Durham, Bridget Gould, Inspector Dave Nicholls, Simon Tranter and Ian Waller.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 10 April, 2019 were agreed as a true record.

The Committee considered the draft annual report of the Taxi Consultative Committee for 2018/19, which provided information on the meetings of the Committee held and issues considered during the year.

It was agreed that the annual report be approved and submitted to a future meeting of the Council’s Appeals and Regulatory Committee.

Inspector Nicholls submitted the reported crime figures for the period 1 April to 30 June, 2019 for the Chesterfield and the Bolsover and North East Derbyshire Policing sections, totalling 33 reports, which included:

18 – making off without payment

  5 – assault on driver

  3 – phones left in taxis

  2 – racial abuse

  2 – damage to taxi office

  1 – damage to taxi

  1 – assault by driver

  1 – sexual assault by driver

Further to Minute No. 32 (2018/19), it was noted that Highways staff were continuing to work with the developers to finalise the detail of the public realm improvements on Elder Way and Knifesmithgate, in order to commence the legal consultation stage.

Steve Ashby explained that it was proposed to amend the Hackney Carriage / Private Hire Licensing Policy to allow the name of the private hire operator / hackney proprietor to be displayed on the rear window of vehicles and to allow officers discretion to permit ‘side signs’ on the rear doors of larger vehicles.

The Committee supported the proposed changes and members were requested to notify any other suggested changes in order to enable the amended policy to be submitted to the Appeals and Regulatory Committee for approval in the autumn.

Steve Ashby reported that during the previous three months one driver’s licence (and their operator’s licence) had been revoked. Two applications for new driver licences had been refused by the Appeals and Regulatory Committee. An appeal against revocation had been successfully defended at Magistrates Court.

The computerised knowledge tests had commenced and waiting times for a test had reduced to less than 10 days.

33 vehicles had failed their test, although it had not been necessary to issue any penalty points.

The unmet demand survey to review the limit on the number of hackney carriage licences in the borough was being planned for later in the year.