Agenda item

Tom Ince (Principal Compliance Officer) has prepared the attached Taxi Licensing Team updates as at October 2024 (that was shared with Committee members via email in the absence of the December meeting) and January 2025 and will give an overview of the most recent update at the meeting.

Tom Ince (Principal Compliance Officer) referred to the updates circulated with the agenda on behalf of the Taxi Licensing Team and highlighted the following:

·            Driver numbers were holding well and were at over 900 for consecutive months for the first time since April 2021 new applications were continuing to be received.  Some drivers wanted to do part time work to supplement their other income in the current economic conditions and whilst the taxi licensing team was currently experiencing issues with long term sickness they were prioritising licensing renewals and applications;

·            The number of licensed vehicles was slowly increasing on the way up to 850 increasing slowly and there was an increase in hackney carriage licences due to the recent changes in Council policy regarding window tints;

·            The team had carried out their annual review of taxi tariff fares and were currently in the process of consulting with the taxi trade.  The fares had not been raised for 2 years and it was proposed to increase tariff 1 by 10%.  The findings from the consultation would be presented to the Committee at their next meeting with the possible proposal to increase a tariff.  This proposal was based upon data led evidence which had identified that Wiltshire taxis are cheaper during the daytime than others;

·            Officers also had to bear in mind the public expectations that taxis need to be an affordable service and for drivers/operators to have a viable business but do not price themselves out of the market;

·            The team’s had frozen their licensing fees for 4 years in a row, recognising that the industry was struggling, and although the school transport work was consistent, there was a reduced footfall in towns and withing the nighttime economy;

·            The team had also moved to a new computer system (ARCUS) which had been a challenge as not all functions were yet working correctly and there was some way to go to resolve that and make the required improvements and more staffing resources were required; and

·            Even with the current reduced staffing capacity, enforcement was still being carried out and it was three drivers had had their licences revoked in recent weeks, one had refused to take a guide dog, one was using a phone at the wheel and one threatened a Council officer.  The team also be looking to carry out enforcement activity during the evening.

The Chairman raised a concern that they would not wish for any possible tariff increases to drive away the nighttime economy and that a taxi provision was definitely needed to align with the Safer Streets work.  Tom highlighted that from initial consultation findings there was a mixed bag of responses with some wanting to raise other tariffs also and not wanting to make any changes.  The Committee were reminded that the taxi tariffs as set were the maximum amounts that could be charged and a choice could be made to charge lower fares. 

A committee member asked about the team’s current staffing issues.  Tom confirmed that it was a small team and that 40% of the team of 5 (2 staff members) were currently on long term sick leave and had been for six weeks and it was likely to be for a number of months.  Tom was currently going through the process to seek an additional two members of staff to add to the team.

A committee member asked how having the single vehicle testing centre in Devizes was going.  Tom responded that whilst there had been a lot of pushbacks when the single centre was proposed and initially opened this had now quietened down with the trade seeming to have accepted it.  They only to travel to Devizes for the inspections twice a year and those travelling from further away can then use the Devizes rank for trade as they wish now that there are no longer zones in Wiltshire.

A committee member asked in relation to the green agenda would the Council take into account preferential pricing for those drivers that are using electric vehicles and had they looked at what other local authorities were doing to drive this forward.  Tom reported that there was a large piece of work to do and that there were government grant schemes to local authorities to offer incentives to purchase electric vehicles with a view to becoming all electric.  Due to their current resources this work was some time off and felt that it for Wiltshire it would raise far more questions than answers around how it would work and the cost implications of rapid chargers for large numbers of vehicles and the siting of those.  Work was being undertaken by fleet services to increase the numbers of charging points but for taxis these would need to be positioned close to or at taxi ranks and this would not be useful for private hire vehicles as they are not allowed to use the ranks.

Jason Salter (Head of Service – Passenger Transport) reported that there was pressure for his team to procure green transport for education transportation but that was a challenge due to the increased costs and he would need to discuss this further with Tom and the Fleet team.

Richard Tottle (Police Licensing Officer) asked if Tom or colleagues would be able to join them during an Operation Serent evening when they are out in towns talking to premises, staff and the public.  Tom indicated that he would be happy to consider this. 

A committee member asked the possible education contracts drivers’ licence and if that driver and their vehicle could only be used for doing that job.  It was confirmed that a licenced vehicle could be used for personal use but that a spouse or partner could not use the vehicle if they did not have a council driving licence.

The Chairman thanked Tom for the update and noted that the taxi rank review was an important piece of work to undertake when staffing resources allowed.

Resolved:

That the Committee note the updates on behalf of the Taxi Licensing Team.