Purpose

To set out the proposal to temporarily relax the vehicle age policy for hackney carriage and private hire vehicles whilst a consultation takes place on the permanent age policy.

Decision

To approve the temporary relaxation of the vehicle age policy to:

•           Vehicles must be no older than 6 years when first licensed

•           Vehicles must be no older than 12 years when renewed

Reasons for the decision

In response to the request from the trade representatives, it has been agreed that the vehicle age policy will be reviewed. It is necessary to undertake a formal consultation and to consider the options carefully, which will take several months. In the meantime, we know that taxi licence holders are struggling to make a reasonable living.

All vehicles must meet the council’s pre-licensing requirements, including a formal inspection at the Vehicle Testing Station, to ensure that the vehicle meets minimum safety requirements.

Upper age limit – temporarily increase to 12 years

There are a small number of licensed vehicles approaching the upper age limit in the 6 months to the end of March 2024.It is considered that the impact of retaining them for an additional 12 months will be negligible to the council but significant to the individual licence holders.

There is one hackney carriage that expired on 19 September 2023 and is now overage, and one private hire vehicle that expired on 22 September that is now overage. In the interests of fairness, it is proposed that both proprietors be contacted by Licensing staff to advise that they may license these vehicles for an additional year.

Entry age limit – temporarily increase to 6 years

Noting comments from trade representatives about the cost and availability of replacement vehicles, it is considered appropriate to also temporarily increase the age at which a vehicle may be licensed for the first time from 5 years to 6 years. This should give licence holders who need to replace their licensed vehicle some more leeway during the cost-of-living crisis.