Issue - meetings

The purpose of the report is to inform members of the activities undertaken to discharge the Council’s licensing functions from 1^st April 2024 to 31^st March 2025.

Contact: Fiona Goldsmith, Public Protection Group Leader, Licensing – 01484 221000

RESOLVED -

That the Licensing Service Update Report be noted.

The Committee received a report which provided anupdate on the activities undertaken to discharge the Council’s Licensing functions between 1^st April 2024  and 31^st March 2025.

In summary, the Committee was advised that the current number of hackney carriage and private hire licences in force as of the 2^nd May 2025 were 6086. Prior to the pandemic the last update report to the Committee was in October 2018, which stated that the number of hackney carriage/private hire drivers licensed were 2,950. The next update report to the Committee was in December 2020 and the figure had dropped to 2,896. As of 2^nd May 2025, the figure had increased to 3351 and the Council had seen a high demand for licenses within the service.

Ms Goldsmith highlighted vehicle testing and referred to tables contained in the report which provided the number of vehicle compliance tests taken at the Council’s two testing stations between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025. Further details were highlighted in the report regarding the reasons for vehicle test failures and the numbers of vehicles that had failed in each category. A question was asked by the Committee regarding the high percentage failure rates of vehicles and the retest process. Ms Goldsmith advised the Committee that the Council’s compliance test was similar to an MOT test. Vehicles had to meet the MOT standard as well as additional checks which did not fall within the remit of a MOT. The compliance test failed vehicles on either major or minor matters. If a vehicle failed on a minor fault, a certain amount of time would be given for the vehicle to be repaired and be retested at a garage with no additional charge. If a vehicle failed on a major fault, then the garage could suspend the vehicle licence and this would trigger a full retest and payment fee.

A question was asked by the Committee if there were any obligations on drivers and taxi companies to undertake their own vehicle tests to ensure vehicles met the required standard. Ms Goldsmith advised that currently there was no statutory requirement in place, and it was just one annual vehicle test which had been previously decided by the Committee in 2014. Members were advised that drivers were expected to check their vehicles and keep an accurate record. The Council’s enforcement team were proactive in checking vehicles on the road and if vehicles were identified as not up to standard an additional test could be requested, or a Prohibition Order could be served by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.

In August 2021, The Licensing Service introduced its Service Standards, and table in the report detailed how the service had performed against the standards between 1^st April 2024 and 31^st March 2025. Ms Goldsmith reported that the service had streamlined its processes and were now managing applications within the service standards. The report also provided a full breakdown of the type of offence/issues and decision/reasons.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9