A period of up to 30 minutes has been set aside for members of the public to ask questions on matters for which the Panel is responsible.
Minutes:
Mr Charles Oakes of the Hackney Drivers’ Association Ltd, addressed the Licensing and Safety Panel in relation to the following issues:
§ The Licensing of rear loading vehicles; Mr Oakes stated that the request for the Licensing and Safety Panel to consider the licensing of rear loading vehicles had been discussed in the past by Members but it was time that consideration was again given to this matter. Mr Oakes explained that financially, this vehicle was a cheaper option.
§ Singh v Cardiff City Council; Mr Oakes asked the Members’ for the Council’s response to the case of Singh v Cardiff City Council which considered their right to either suspend or revoke an individual’s licence. The case sates that they could not do both.
§ Complaints about parking in ranks and private hire trade plying for hire; Mr Oakes stated that there has been an increase in complaints from Hackney Drivers in relation to Private Hire vehicles plying for hire and private vehicles parking on the night time taxi ranks. Mr Oakes stated that the Licensing Service was not addressing these grievances and that he had been forced to turn to the police for assistance in relation to the parking issue. He stated that these problems had been brought before the Licensing and Safety panel on many occasions.
Licensing and Safety Panel 8 January 2014
In response, the Head of Commercial and Licensing reported that:
· On the issue of licensing rear loading vehicles, this matter had already been considered by the Licensing and Safety Panel on a
number of previous occasions and that on those occasions Members had resolved not to licence these vehicles as hackney carriages, due
to public safety concerns. He went on to explain that the taxi ranks in the Borough were designed for side loading vehicles, not rear loading. The safety concern is in relation to pushing a wheelchair passenger off the kerb into the road to load them into the vehicle.
Councillor Quinn proposed that a health and safety risk assessment should be included in the report. It was agreed that for the next meeting of the Licensing and Safety Panel, the Head of Commercial and Licensing would report the history of past discussions on the rear loading vehicles in the Operational report so that Members can consider this matter further. The Head of Commercial and Licensing stated that within the Commercial Section of the team he is responsible for, there are Health and Safety Officers and that their input would also be incorporated into the report.
· In relation to the Panel’s decision to suspend or revoke an individual’s licence, the Head of Commercial and Licensing explained that, previously, if a licence holder was immediately suspended for a serious offence, then it would come before the Panel for a further decision to suspend or revoke that licence when finally dealt with. In light of the Cardiff case, that can be seen as taking duplicate action on the same facts. For the future where a driver is under consideration for immediate action on public safety grounds, depending upon the particular circumstances it is more likely a driver will immediately have their licence revoked pending any investigation. The licence could then be re-instated on reapplication if the driver was found not to be at fault.
· In relation to Private Hire Drivers plying for hire, the Head of Commercial and Licensing stated that this issue is explored regularly; however, he would investigate the matter further. He acknowledged that there is an ongoing problem with members of the public parking their vehicles on the night time taxi ranks, but that this has resulted in the Civil Parking Enforcement Officers issuing a large number of fixed penalty notices in relation to these vehicles.