To consider a report by the Head of Community regarding the need to establish a replacement scheme for the driver testing of prospective Private Hire and Hackney Carriage drivers.
Contact:C Allison 387075
Minutes:
With the assistance of a report by the Head of Community (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Committee considered a proposal to establish a replacement scheme for the driver testing of prospective Private Hire and Hackney Carriage drivers.
Members were reminded that in October 2011, the Licensing and Protection Panel approved the Driving Standards Agency’s (DSA)driver’s assessment as the appropriate qualification for all new applicants for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage driver’s badges and for cases where there are serious concerns as to the fitness of an existing driver. However the DSA had recently announced that they were going to withdraw the assessment with effect from 31st December 2016, which resulted in the need to establish a suitable replacement as a matter of urgency.
Having been reminded that it was a requirement within the District Council’s policy that an appropriate formal driving qualification be undertaken, attention was then drawn to the options which were available to the Council. Members were advised that in view of the short timeframe imposed upon the Authority by the DSA, the Council had established an interim arrangement with the Blue Lamp Trust, a police fire and ambulance registered charity that has been delivering taxi driver assessments for over 5 years. Feedback from the applicants who had undertaken these tests had been positive thus far and Members were advised that the charge for a test includes a £7 per test tax rebate which is paid at the end of the financial year in a ‘grant cheque’ for the Council to award to a community group or project within the area.
In discussing the information within the report, Members were advised that one of the biggest complaints regarding the DSA testing had been the waiting times. The benefit of the Blue Lamp proposal was that applicants were able to secure their tests within a quicker timeframe and were able to benefit from a more local test location in Huntingdon. Clarification was also sought from Members as to the basis by which the costs charged by the Trust were calculated and the extent to which the price was competitive.
Having noted that this would be an interim solution, pending further investigation by the Head of Community into the other options available for a more permanent solution and the urgent need to address the situation given that it was no longer possible to book a DSA test slot in Cambridge in 2016, it was
RESOLVED
(a) that the contents of the report, together with the options put forward be noted;
(b) that the existing District Council requirement that an appropriate formal driving qualification be undertaken and obtained for all new applicants for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage driver’s badges and for cases where there are serious concerns as to the fitness of an existing driver to hold a licence due to driving problems be retained;
(c) that the appropriate qualification be amended from the DSA driver’s assessment for Private Hire and Hackney Carriages or future equivalent testing body, to include other equivalent testing bodies e.g. The Blue Lamp Trust;
(d) that tests be valid for a period of one year from the pass date;
(e) that should an annual test rebate be paid at the end of the financial year in the form of a ‘grant cheque’ that it be awarded to a charity approved by the donator and the Chairman of the Licensing & Protection Committee for the benefit of a community project within the area; and
(f) that delegated authority remain for the Head of Community, after consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Licensing and Protection Committee to determine whether a test should be undertaken in circumstances where there are serious concerns as to the fitness of an existing driver to hold a licence and that each case should be considered on its individual merits.
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