Agenda item

The Team Manager (Licensing and Environmental Protection) presented the report.

She said that that most of the proposed changes to the Policy related to three objectives:

1. Compliance with Bath’s Clean Air Plan. The Taxi Policy and the Clean Air Plan had been co-ordinated, so that that they would both be considered at the meeting of the Cabinet in December. There had been positive conversations with the taxi trade about the use of electric vehicles.

2. The need for awareness training on child sexual exploitation.

3. The need to ensure that all drivers have the necessary English-speaking skills, in order to promote public safety. A test was proposed to ensure that all new applicants have the necessary communication skills to be able to discharge the very responsible role of being a taxi driver.

There were other areas where changes were proposed, including taxi drivers’ dress. Drivers would be expected to give a professional appearance as appropriate to people providing a service to the public. Consultees had made comments about specific issues such as shorts and flip-flops. The proposed condition on dress could be reworded if the Committee desired this. Alternative wording that Members might find acceptable might be “drivers shall at all times be respectably dressed and clean and tidy in their appearance” and examples could be given of unacceptable dress. If shorts are permitted, they should be professional-looking shorts and the condition should clarify what was meant by “professional-looking”.

In view of the significant changes proposed there were a number of consultation initiatives. Every driver had been sent a copy of the proposed policy and conditions. There was also an online survey. Drivers were invited to a debate and about thirty attended. Feedback from the trade had indicated that they were generally happy with what was being proposed. Conversations with the trade were continuing.

Members made comments and asked questions to which the Team Manager (Licensing and Environmental Protection) responded.

1. Drivers

• It is right to require drivers to be tidy in appearance, but the Council should be wary of telling people specifically how they should dress, for example not to wear shorts. “Professional-looking” varies according to the nature of the profession. Who is to be the arbiter of what is appropriate? Rules about footwear are alright in so far as they relate to the driver’s ability to control his/her vehicle.

• Perhaps the standard of dress could be specified as “smart casual” and then left for individual driver’s taste.

• We should require drivers to be presentable, rather than lay down overly prescriptive rules.

• Are we really going to ban a driver for wearing the wrong clothes?

• I believe that a uniform for drivers would increase the confidence of customers that they were in the hands of a fit and proper person and a capable driver. If we do not impose a uniform, it is important that drivers should have a professional look, so I would be uncomfortable about shorts.

The Team Manager (Licensing and Environmental Protection) responded that the wording of the condition on dress reflected specific comments made during the consultation. It was important that any conditions should be able to be enforced by officers, so ambiguity should be avoided.

• How do you define what a suitable standard in English is? A strong regional accent can be a barrier to communication; are we going to specify BBC English?

• In a tourist city foreign language competence would be an asset for a driver. Could some kind of marker be put on the vehicles of drivers who are able to speak a foreign language?

New applicants will be required to do an English competency test with a third party provider over the phone in the presence of officer. This will test their ability to construct sentences. A certain score will be set as the pass mark. It is something that other local authorities already require.  Competence in a second language might be useful, but it is really important that all drivers have an acceptable command of English, particular in emergencies. The Council is in discussion with Bath College about the provision of English language training for drivers who do not pass the test. This would help them in their general life as well as with their role as a taxi driver

• How would changes in the policy apply to Uber drivers?

We cannot impose conditions on drivers licensed by other authorities who come to work in B&NES.

B. Vehicles

• Engine idling by taxi drivers should be addressed.

• Will charging points for electric cars be installed on taxi ranks?

Engine idling is not just an issue with taxis, but with all vehicles, and mitigation measures should apply to them all. We are consulting with the trade about the location of charging points. They would probably be located near a rank rather than on the rank. The Senior Public Protection Officer added that it should be remembered that there will be electric private hire vehicles, which do not wait on ranks, as well as electric Hackney Carriages.

• There was discussion in the past about taxis having a uniform colour to show that they were licensed by B&NES. Has that been considered as part of this review?

• Public safety should be the prime consideration. Whenever I have been abroad I have always felt safer getting into a taxi in cities where they do have a uniform livery. I accept that there are concerns about the cost of this to the trade, but there are inexpensive approaches that could be appropriate, like the use of magnetic strips or transfers.

The consultation did not seek views on vehicle livery. We note that a number of other local authorities have imposed a uniform vehicle livery. Conversations with the local trade suggest that they would not support it and an authority-wide livery would be a really significant change.  It is something that the Council will keep under review.

• Do we know how many vehicles are close to the 5-year and 10-year age limits?

An analysis has been done, but officers do not have the figures for the Committee today. It is known that a large percentage of vehicles are Euro 5 diesels, which would not comply with the requirements of the Clean Air Zone. There is a proposal to give these vehicles an additional year, so that they will have three years from now to comply.

The Team Manager (Licensing and Environmental Protection) asked whether Members would be content with the following as an alternative to the draft condition relating to dress:

“Drivers will be expected to be respectably dressed and clean and tidy in appearance. Examples of unacceptable dress include flip-flops.”

A Member suggested that there should be a condition requiring footwear to be compatible with the safe control of the vehicle.

A Member said that judgments about what clothing was sexually suggestive would inevitably be subjective and might raise equality issues. Another Member responded that in the case of taxi and private hire regulation public protection had to outweigh equality issues. In order to give the public confidence it was not possible to rely on individual drivers’ discretion in this area.

A Member said that the policy could not spell out every detail, and that there would always be a need for judgment in specific cases. The Licensing Sub-Committee provided a mechanism for this.

A Member asked whether there had ever been complaints from the public about drivers’ dress. The Senior Public Protection Officer replied that from time to time he received general comments about drivers being scruffy, for example, but there had never been a formal complaint about the dress of a specific driver.

The Team Leader (Licensing and Environmental Protection) suggested that a way forward might be for Members to delegate to her the power to redraft the condition about drivers’ dress in the light of the discussion at this meeting.

It was RESOLVED unanimously:

1. To note the responses to the public consultation and the officer recommendations;

2. to delegate to the Team Manager (Licensing and Environmental Protection) the revision of the revised hackney carriage and private hire policy to reflect the discussion by the Committee before its presentation to Cabinet;

3. to recommend adoption of sections 165-167 of the Equality Act 2010 by Cabinet.