Agenda and minutes

Present:

Ben Thomson – Head of Public Protection – Chair

Michael Bridge – License Unit Manager

Nazmul Islam – Business Engagement Officer

Charles Oakes – The Hackney Driver Assoc. Ltd

David Lawrie – National Private Hire Taxi Association

Muhammad Warriach – Private Hire Drivers Association Bury

PC Peter Eccleston – GMP Bury District Licensing Officer

Sham Raja – National Private Hire & Taxi Association

Khalid Hussain – Bury Hackney Association

Cllr. Gavin McGill – New Chair of Licensing and Safety Committee

Naveed Aijaz – PHDA Bury

Habib Ur Rehman - GMB Union

Mathew Freckleton - Uber

Cllr. Morris – Cabinet Member responsible for Licensing

Laura Swann – assistant Director of Operations

Minutes:  Maureen Foden

1.

Welcome & Apologies

Kirsty Wild, Fiona James

2.

Minutes & Actions of previous meeting 11.05.23 & Matters Arising

The minutes from the previous meeting were agreed as a true record.

·         Actions that are still open will be completed.

·         In response to a question regarding licensed vehicle enforcement at Parklife 2023. Licensing officers identified an individual without a badge and reports regarding non Bury Licensed vehicles were sent to relevant organisations on unlicensed vehicles.

·         Comments on bus lanes not being able to be used by the Private Hire trade was confirmed and a trade rep advised this was disappointing.

3.

GMP Update

There have been 53 incidents reported with taxi in the narrative, this was reduced down to 19 incidents where a driver has been a victim or an offender, a summary update was given on a number of these.

The police are receiving a lot more reports due to the encouragement drivers are receiving by their various organisations, it is just disappointing that they are not being followed through.

It was reported that the reason drivers do not follow through is that the police are not responding back to the victims, this is breaking the line of communications.

ACTION 1:     NA reported a crime which has not been responded to, he was asked                         to provide PC Eccleston with his crime number for him to follow up on

Regarding a Wolverhampton crime, the driver has been suspended and has not only lost his taxi licence but also his driver licence.

ACTION 2:     PE to investigate out of area incidents with colleagues from relevant             forces.ranks

Police response to calls is dependent on the risk of the crime, which are triaged. If it constitutes as a criminal offence, then in theory it should be followed up within a couple of days of the crime being recorded. If it does not constitute a criminal offence, it will not be followed up.

Taxis’ ranking up illegally need to be reported through parking services so they can gather evidence to be able to allocate resources to   address the issue. If they are from Wolverhampton it needs to be reported through their licensing authority. It was suggested taking a photograph with the date / time and send to Wolverhampton as a formal complaint and cc MB ensuring that people do not put themselves at risk. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.