Agenda item

Report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services that provided information to assess whether there should be new Pedicab Private Hire Drivers Conditions of Licence, the existing limit on hackney carriage vehicle licences should be dispensed with, and whether Coventry City Council should adopt a unified approach with regard to Group 2 Medicals.

The report proposed to authorise new Pedicab Private Hire Drivers Conditions of Licence to dispense the requirements for a motor vehicle Driving Assessment and the Private Hire Drivers Road Knowledge Test for Private Hire Drivers who were licensed to drive Pedicabs. 

Coventry City Council had a set of conditions for a Pedicab Private Hire Vehicle Driver, one of which restricted these vehicles, if licensed, to driving within the inner ring road. If the licensed Pedicab Private Hire Driver subsequently wished to obtain a Private Hire Driver’s licence to expand using a motor vehicle outside the ring road then that driver would have had to undertake the current Private Hire Driver Road Knowledge Test and Driving Assessment. The revised Conditions of Licence, with the proposed changes highlighted, were set out in an Appendix to the report, the current Private Hire Conditions of licence were set out in a further Appendix to the report.

The report also proposed to dispense the requirement for the existing limit on the number of hackney carriage vehicle licences at 859 in view of the decreasing demand for hackney carriage vehicle licences.

Since November 2018 the number of hackney carriage vehicles licensed had dropped to 561. An unmet demand survey, required every three years to ensure that there were sufficient vehicles to provide the service required, entailed a cost of just over £10,000 to the licensed trade and in view of the decreasing demand for hackney carriage vehicles to be licensed, there seemed to be no requirement to retain the cap on the numbers of hackney carriage vehicles. All the names on the waiting list were written to and there was currently no waiting list to obtain a hackney carriage vehicle licence. 

The report further proposed to approve the new frequency of medical certificates and approve the acceptance of medical certificates for hackney carriage and private hire driver licence applications on templates from other West Midlands authorities within four months of being completed by a medical practitioner.

At the Taxi Licensing Harmonisation Group on 9^th July 2021 it was agreed that the frequency of assessment recommended by the DVLA and the Health and Safety Executive should suffice in order to bring harmonisation throughout the West Midlands, remove the bureaucracy of non-transferable certificates proving the same thing, and reducing unnecessary demand on the healthcare sector. Medical certificates would be accepted for applications up to four months after medical examination.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for City Services:

1)  Authorises new Pedicab Private Hire Drivers Conditions of Licence to dispense the requirements for a motor vehicle Driving Assessment and the Private Hire Drivers Road Knowledge Test for Private Hire Drivers who are licensed to drive Pedicabs (as set out in Appendix A to the report).

2)  Agrees to dispense the requirement for the existing limit on the number of hackney carriage vehicle licences at 859 in view of the decreasing demand for hackney carriage vehicle licences.

3)  Approves the new frequency of medical certificates and the acceptance of medical certificates for hackney carriage and private hire driver licence applications on templates from other West Midlands authorities within four months of being completed by a medical practitioner.