The issue
This Consultation Is Now Closed
Following the Jay and Casey reports of 2013 and 2015, the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy was reviewed and improved significantly.
It included a requirement that all licensed vehicles must undergo regular compliance checks, the number of which are determined by the age of the vehicle:
- Under 3 years – 1 test per year
- Between 3-5 years – 2 tests per year
- Over 5 years – 3 tests per year
To support this, the current Policy is that vehicle licence plates (the physical plate displayed on the taxi itself) are issued for the duration between compliance checks, so a vehicle that is over five years in age is issued with three licence plates a year. 237 vehicles are issued two licence plates per year and 639 vehicles are issued three licence plates per year. This policy was implemented to ensure that all vehicles attended their compliance checks and gave a visible reminder to drivers that their test was due.
A number of respondents to the consultation in 2020 believed that the issuing of plates at this frequency is no longer necessary due to improvements in the administration of the Licensing service, which means that other automated checks and flags are in place to ensure that vehicles attend their compliance checks and that drivers are reminded when they are due.
