Taxi and Private Hire Newsletter - November 2018 · Stopping on the Gyratory ... levels since 2015. On average, there were 5.1 licensed taxi and private hire vehicles per 1,000

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01483 50 50 50 [email protected] www.guildford.gov.uk/taxi

Taxi and Private Hire Newsletter – November 2018 Page | 1

Taxi and Private Hire

Newsletter November 2018

With the turning weather and busy ‘Festive Season’ nearly upon us, we are pleased to send November’s newsletter to the Guildford hackney carriage and private hire trade.

Speed Tables on Bridge Street and Onslow Street

The works to install speed tables on Bridge Street and Onslow Street is now complete. We hope that these improve safety for members of the public.

Stopping on the Gyratory We have received concerns from the licensed trade about vehicles picking up and dropping off on Bridge Street and Onslow Street causing a danger to other road users and pedestrians. As the busy festive season approaches, we would remind members of the trade that no stopping is permitted on the gyratory.

Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire

Vehicle Licensing Publishes Report As reported in October’s Newsletter, on 24 September the Department for Transport published the report of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing. We are still awaiting a response from the Government and will update the trade when this is announced.




Taxi Marshal Training The Taxi Marshals who assist on the Friary rank during busy evenings have recently attended training with the Licensing Team to give them a better understanding of taxis, and the standards required. We have also introduced a system where the Marshals can escalate issues involving the trade to Licensing for follow up action.

Taxi lining refreshed

In October, works took place to re-line the taxi ranks in the town centre.

As the Christmas shopping season approaches, we would once again remind the trade that taxi ranks are for use by licensed taxis to ‘ply for hire’ and enable customers to access the service. Taxi ranks are not ‘free parking’ spaces for drivers to use to run errands. Should drivers wish to use the facilities in the town centre, even for a short period, then they should park in a designated parking space and pay any fee required. We have noticed a number of vehicles left unattended on ranks recently, which is a contravention of the byelaws. We will continue to monitor this situation and any driver found leaving their vehicle empty on a rank will be sanctioned.




Safeguarding and Child Sexual Exploitation

Awareness Training

We would remind all drivers of the requirement for to complete the mandatory training in protecting vulnerable adults in children. This is part of a Surrey wide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation. All licensed drivers across Surrey will have to complete this course. All drivers have been emailed with their log in details and password. As such all drivers should now be able to complete the course. If you have not received this email, please check your inbox and contact licensing once you have checked that you did not mistakenly delete it. The course is on online course and is free to drivers. It should take about an hour. There is a multiple-choice test which must be passed at the end of the course. The course must be completed by 1 June 2019. Please send a copy of your certificate to licensing (by email is acceptable) once completed. If drivers do not complete the course, licences may be suspended, revoked or not renewed from 1 June 2019.

Taxi and Private Hire Advisory Group Meeting

The Taxi and Private Hire Advisory Group Meeting took place on Wednesday 17 October. A number of issues affecting the licensed trade, both locally and nationally were discussed. Much of the focus from attendees surrounded the operation of Uber in Guildford. We explained to attendees that Uber were operating legally in Guildford. Advice was given to the trade that rather than complaining to the Council or engaging in protest, the trade should focus their efforts on ways to promote their business over and above any competition, such as commissioning their own App, publicity or promotions. We also recommended that rather than complaining to the Council about the current state of the law which the Council has to adminster, members of the trade should instead write to their Member of Parliament about legislative reform following the publication of the Task and Finish Group report.

Licensing Committee Training On 22 November, Solicitor James Button, a nationally recognised Taxi law expert and author of ‘Button on Taxis’ carried out Taxi licensing training for Councillors. As well as giving an overview of taxi licensing and decision making, Mr Button also spoke about the national significance of the two legal challenges which Guildford has faced. These challenges, surrounding licence conditions and fares will set legal case law for other Authorities and Courts to consider in the decision making.




Record Number of Taxis on the Road Statistic

Reveal The Department for Transport has published its 2018 taxi & private hire statistics. The 2018 statistical analysis showed that the “…total number of licensed taxi and private hire vehicles and licensed drivers in England reached record levels in 2018.” There are now a total of 285,400 licensed taxi and private hire vehicles in England, up 1.7% from last year. Other headline statistics were: an 3.4% increase in licensed PHVs in England since 2017, with a 0.6% increase in London and a 5.4% increase in England outside London. The number of licensed PHV operators increased by 3.4% from the previous year. This was still a decline of 9.2% since the peak in PHV operators at 16,500 in 2009. PHV operators declined by 2.3% to 2,400 operators in London and increased by 4.5% to 12,600 operators in England outside London. In England 58% of all taxis were wheelchair accessible in 2018. This has remained at similar levels since 2015. On average, there were 5.1 licensed taxi and private hire vehicles per 1,000 people in England whereas in London there were 12.3 licensed vehicles per 1,000 people.

Government Set to Introduce Tax Registration

Checks for Licence holders The HMRC is set to announce plans to introduce mandatory tax registration checks for public sector licensing. Last December the HMRC consulted on these proposals in their “Tackling the hidden economy: public sector licensing” public consultation. The Chancellor announced as part of the Autumn Budget: “Following the consultation ‘Tackling the hidden economy: public sector licensing’ published in December 2017, the government will consider legislating at Finance Bill 2019 to introduce a tax registration check linked to licence renewal processes for some public sector licences. Applicants would need to provide proof they were correctly registered for tax in order to be granted licenses. This would make it more difficult to trade in the hidden economy, levelling the playing field for compliant businesses.” The public sector licence types that will be affected by the Government’s proposals will include the SIA, Scrap metal dealers, Taxi/PH driver and operators, HMOs, Street/market trading and Massage and special treatment premises licences The HMRC said these licence types have been selected because: “existing licence conditions align reasonably well with tax-compliance measures; they apply to sectors vulnerable to hidden economy activity; and there are broader potential benefits to be realised in driving up wider regulatory standards.”




Driver Loses Licence Revocation Appeal A Private Hire Driver has lost their appeal against a decision by the Licensing Sub-Committee to revoke their drivers licence. On 7 November, Magistrates sitting at Guildford Magistrates Court heard evidence previously presented to a Licensing Sub-Committee in April about the driver not complying with conditions of their licence, and a complaint about overcharging following a journey which was not pre-booked. Finding no reason to overturn the Council’s decision, Magistrates dismissed the appeal and ordered the driver pay costs of over £1660 to the Council.

BTEC Qualification Reminder All drivers are again reminded that they are required to complete the BTEC Qualification “The Introduction to the role of the professional taxi and private hire driver” by 1 January 2019. Drivers who have not completed the qualification by this date may not have their licences renewed. There is a list of BTEC Course providers available on our website. This has been updated recently to include new providers. We would encourage all drivers to complete the qualification in the near future and provide their certificate to the Council.

Emailing the Licensing Team Finally, if you are emailing the licensing email address can you provide the following information: Name of Driver / Proprietor Badge / vehicle number A short email stating why they are contacting us All too often we just receive an email with an attachment, no explanation of why we are receiving it, no badge / vehicle number just the email address it has been sent from, we then have to search to find out who has sent it and why they have sent it, all of which takes time.

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Taxi and Private Hire Newsletter - November 2018 · Stopping on the Gyratory ... levels since 2015. On average, there were 5.1 licensed taxi and private hire vehicles per 1,000