Welcome to the Taxi Times, a newsletter for the taxi trade showing updates on legislation, policy and enforcement.
In this edition of the Taxi Times we’ve got information on:
- New driver knowledge and safeguarding test
- Right to Work confirmation
- Low Emission Taxi Incentive Scheme
- DriveTech Account and DVLA Mandate
- National Register of Taxi Licence Refusals, Revocations and Suspensions
- Refusal of fares - Hackney Carriage
- Safeguarding refresher training
- Use of private hire and Hackney carriage vehicles reminder
- Taxi Licensing Policy
- Private hire operators’ contracts with passengers
We welcome your feedback. Contact the Licensing Team with any comments.
New driver knowledge and safeguarding test
City of York Council has secured funding in relation to the concerns over transport infrastructure and the potential shortages of licensed Private Hire and Hackney Carriage drivers which had been raised by The Night Time Industries Association.
During the period from June to December 2023, anyone, who has not applied at any point before, who wants to become a Private Hire or Hackney Carriage driver with the City of York, can book onto Knowledge and Safeguarding Training Day for all new Taxi Drivers for free (this only applies to the first training day / test).
If subsequent bookings are made either onto Knowledge and Safeguarding Training Day or Resit the normal rate will be charged.
This course is a full day’s training course ending with a test on the subject areas. It is an essential course for any potential applicant who is thinking of becoming a licensed driver with the City of York.
The course will cover a variety of topics and it aims to provide help and understanding in becoming a licensed driver with the York Authority.
The course will cover topics on:
- disability awareness
- child and adult safeguarding
- sexual exploitation
- equality awareness
- legislation, conditions of licence and byelaws
- York’s pedestrian zone awareness
If you have been approached by potential drivers feel free to signpost them to this training.
The training is provided by the council’s Workforce Development Unit, and there are limited free funded places available which will be allocated in booking date order.
Please direct applicants to York Learning Pool online to book a place.
Applicants will need to allow 2 working days to be authorised and then you will be able to access the course and book a place.
If you need any further information, feel free to contact City of York Council, Workforce Development Unit, on email: wdu@york.gov.uk.
Right to Work confirmation
Updated guidance has issued by the Home Office in relation the Immigration Act 2016. Provisions with the Act mean that driver and operator licences must not be issued to people who are unlawfully present in the UK, who are not permitted to work, or who are permitted to work but are subject to a condition that prohibits them from holding such a licence.
Licensing authorities must discharge this duty by carrying out right to work checks in the prescribed manner laid out in this guidance.
The check must be performed as part of all applications for a new, renewed or extended licence, whether for the full statutory term or a lesser period.
For those who have time-limited permission to be in the UK, the licensing authority must repeat the check at each subsequent application to renew or extend the licence until such time as the applicant demonstrates that they are entitled to remain indefinitely in the UK.
As a result of this guidance, we will be asking you to provide update information as to your right to work on or before your next renewal, this information will be stored on record so that your renewals can be processed effectively.
Low Emission Taxi Incentive Scheme
For a limited time, City of York Council is still able to offer financial support to help eligible City of York licensed taxi drivers buy low emission vehicles, to improve local air quality and health.
Taxis provide essential transport services and it is important that we help you to be part of our wider air quality improvement programme.
The scheme provides grant funding of up to £3000 which can be used to buy petrol hybrid, some plug-in hybrid and some low emission wheelchair accessible petrol/diesel vehicles.
Funding can also be used to support running costs of fully electric vehicles.
To find out more and how to apply contact City of York Council’s Public Protection team via email: public.protection@york.gov.uk, or by telephone: 01904 551525.
DriveTech Account and DVLA Mandate
As part of the council’s Taxi Licensing Policy we are required to undertake a periodic DVLA driving licence check. These checks are undertaken on our behalf via DriveTech Fleet management.
The check of your DVLA driving licence is a statutory requirement that is undertaken as part of your Private hire / Hackney Carriage drivers licence grant. This process can be found in the Taxi Licensing Policy.
Authorisation to check your documents with the DVLA last for three years, at which time drivers will be requested to renew the authorisation. Over the next few months DriveTech and the council will be contacting licensed drivers, via email, if their authorisation is due to expire.
Full instructions will be provided to resubmit the DVLA Licence Check Document online via your specific account. If you do receive an email, please complete the resubmission requirement withing 7 days.
Failure to complete this requirement may result in non-compliance with the policy and further action may be taken.
National Register of Taxi Licence Refusals, Revocations and Suspensions
On 27 April 2023 Section 2 of Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022 became a mandatory requirement for all licensing authorities. The council has a duty to record information about licensing decisions.
The intention of this register is to prevent drivers who have had a hackney carriage or PHV licence revoked or an application for one refused, going to another authority to dishonestly secure a licence by failing to disclose their previous licensing history. All decisions will be recorded on the National Register of Taxi Licence Refusals, Revocations, and Suspensions Register (NR3S).
This means that from 27 April 2023:
- applications for new hackney carriage/PHV driver licences and for renewals will be checked on the NR3S
- where an existing licence is revoked or an application for renewal or a new licence is refused, this will be recorded on NR3S
Refusal of fares - Hackney Carriage
The council has received complaints from members of the public who have been refused a journey, and from licensed drivers who accuse other drivers of ‘cherry picking’ jobs.
Section 53 of the Town and Police Clauses Act 1847 states:
“Penalty on driver for refusing to drive. A driver of a hackney carriage standing at any of the stands for hackney carriages appointed by the commissioners, or in any street, who refuses or neglects, without reasonable excuse, to drive such carriage to any place within the prescribed distance, or the distance to be appointed by any byelaw of the commissioners, not exceeding the prescribed distance to which he is directed to drive by the person hiring or wishing to hire such carriage, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.”
Whilst the law dates to the 1800’s, its application to the modern day is still relevant and essentially says that any driver who refuses to drive a passenger within the licensed area without a reasonable excuse commits an offence. If an offence is committed, this could potentially lead to legal action being taken. If convicted of such an offence a fine up to £500.
In addition, refusal of a fare could lead to other action being taken against the driver in respect of their licence, Section 61 of the 1976 Act allows suspension or revocation of a driver licence on the grounds of non-compliance with parts of the 1847 Act or for any other reasonable cause, of which refusing a fare, even without being convicted, could be considered.
Further to this, the Equality Act 2010 and the Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Disabled Persons) Act 2022 requires all drivers to provide services to all passengers regardless of their race, gender, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic.
This means that a driver cannot refuse a passenger on the grounds of their protected characteristics and must accept the carriage of any disabled person, provide them with reasonable mobility assistance, and carry their mobility aids, all without charging any more than they would for a nondisabled passenger.
Not all disabilities are visible, many disabled passengers show no outward sign of their condition, therefore drivers will need to know how to speak to the passenger about their condition and ascertain their specific needs, without causing offence or giving the customer potential grounds to consider that they have been refused on this basis.
Any refusal will amount to what is considered to be a ‘reasonable excuse’ and unsurprisingly the view on this will differ between drivers and customers.
One of the more frequent complaints from the trade is that driver’s ‘cherry pick’ jobs and refuse ‘short’ journeys. In the increasingly competitive environment of taxi work a driver who has been waiting on the rank for some considerable time only to get a customer who wants to go around the corner, amounting in a fare of a couple of pounds, may feel disgruntled.
However, to be clear, refusing a job because it was too short is not considered a sufficient reason to refuse a fare.
Safeguarding refresher training
If you are a licensed driver and your licence is due for renewal, please make sure you have undertaken the safeguarding refresher training prior to the renewal of your licence (this training has to be completed at least once every 3 years).
The refresher training courses are available to book online:
A course fee applies.
If you need any further information please contact City of York Council Workforce Development Unit, on email: wdu@york.gov.uk.
See further information and guidance, informing drivers about the signs of safeguarding and where to report concerns into the council, on the Safeguarding Adults York website.
Use of private hire and Hackney carriage vehicles reminder
One of the most frequently asked questions that we get asked is – “can my spouse / partner drive my licensed vehicle?”
The only person who is allowed to drive your private hire vehicle is a person who holds the appropriate local authority licence, for the vehicle to be driven as a private hire. The same requirement applies for hackney carriages.
We would therefore like to clarify the legislation surrounding Private Hire / Hackney carriage vehicle use. The Case Law around the use of licensed vehicles is very clear.
Case file: Benson v Boyce 1997:
The driver of a private hire vehicle must hold the relevant driver’s licence whether or not the vehicle is engaged on hire and reward.
Case File: Yates-v-Gates 1970:
Only a licensed hackney carriage driver can drive a licensed hackney carriage, and a hackney carriage is always a hackney carriage.
On occasion vehicles have been presented to the council’s vehicle testing facilities by non-licensed drivers. Please ensure that if you are unable to present your vehicle in person, that you ask someone to present the vehicle on your behalf who is correctly licensed and insured to do so.
Taxi Licensing Policy
A report went to the Licensing and Regulatory Committee on 4 October 2022, to formally review the Taxi Licensing Policy to make sure it is in line with the requirements of the Department for Transports Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards, any other statutory legal requirements and best practice.
As a result of this report, the policy is currently being reviewed, as soon as a draft is agreed, the council will seek public consultation on its contents.
Private hire operators’ contracts with passengers
On 28 July 2023 the High Court delivered a judgment in a case relating to the role of private hire vehicle (PHV) operators and the contracts that they enter into with passengers.
In order to comply with this judgment, all PHV operators must therefore contract directly with passengers and must do so on their own behalf as opposed to on behalf of someone else (e.g. a driver). Contracting with passengers as “principal” means that operators must be legally responsible for the provision of the journey (or transportation services).
All PHV operators will need to carefully consider the High Court’s judgment and take steps and their own legal advice to ensure that they comply with it, including considering whether any changes to their way of working are required.
The judgment applies to all PHV operators regardless of how many vehicles and drivers are available to them, the employment status of their drivers who carry out bookings accepted by them and whether the operator accepts bookings by telephone, in-person, online or via an app.
Taxi Times
- Email: licensing@york.gov.uk
- Telephone: 01904 552422