Agenda item

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillor Melissa Fisher, Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Communities, advising members of the outcome of a recent consultation relating to proposed changes to the taxi licensing policy in relation to the mechanical testing of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles, and seeking approval for a change to the Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy which would allow mechanical testing to be carried out externally.

 

Should the decision be made to proceed with the proposed changes, Members would be invited to approve the suggested criteria for a testing station to become approved (as set out at Appendix 1 to the report), to approve fees for testing stations to become approved and to approve a maximum number of testing stations in the Borough – the recommendation being 4 or 5.

 

Councillor Fisher referred members to the detail within the report and advised the Council of a minor change to the wording of Paragraph 2.1, which she then moved as the first paragraph of the Substantive Motion.

 

The report set out the following information:

 

Current Position

 

Provisions within the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 permitted district councils to grant licenses to vehicle proprietors to use a vehicle as a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle.

 

Under Section 50 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 any hackney carriage or private hire vehicle licensed by a district council had to present for inspection and testing on no more than three occasions during any one twelve month period.  The primary reason for this legislation was to maintain public safety, both in respect of taxi passengers and other road users.

 

Currently in Hyndburn vehicles up to the age of 2 years when tested would be issued with a 12 month licence.  Any car over the age of 2 years of age would be required to pass the Council’s vehicle examination test twice yearly and would be issued with a 6 month licence each time.  When a vehicle reached 15 years of age it would be subject to the Council’s vehicle examination test three times per year and would be issued with a 4 month licence each time.

 

The inspection and testing was currently undertaken by staff employed by the Council and based at the Council’s Vehicle Maintenance Unit (CVMU) located on Library Street in Church.  The tests were booked via the Council’s licensing team.

 

In addition to the standards required for a class 4 MOT test by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), the Council had additional supplemental standards which vehicles had to pass in order to be licensed by the Council.  The supplementary testing manual supplemented the Rules, Regulations and Procedures for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing and had been established so as to ensure that all vehicles licensed by Hyndburn Borough Council were of a high standard and were suitable, safe and fit to be licensed by this authority to transport members of the public.  The additional elements of the supplementary testing manual were essential as there were certain criteria that a licensed vehicle must meet over and above the MOT standards.  For example, all licensed vehicles must have 4 doors.  A vehicle with only 2 doors would not fail an MOT on that criteria, but it would not be suitable to be licensed as a private hire or hackney carriage vehicle.

 

The Council currently issues a Certificate of Compliance (COC) to all vehicles that had reached the MOT standards as well as those set out in the supplementary testing manual.  The COC was a certificate that the DVSA permitted only local authority employees to issue when testing at a local authority premises.  The COC would exempt the licensed vehicle from requiring a class 4 MOT.

 

If a vehicle failed any part of the class 4 MOT test, including any elements of the supplementary test, it would not be issued with a compliance certificate, and would not be licensed until it had fully passed the test.  All re-tests would have to take place within ten working days of the original test otherwise a full taxi test would be required at the full test taxi fee.  Only one re-test was permitted per vehicle, thereafter a full taxi test was required and a full test fee charged.

 

The overriding aim of any Licensing Authority when carrying out its functions in relation to the licensing of hackney carriage and private hire drivers, vehicles and private hire operators must be the protection of the public.

 

The proposal to externalise

 

In March 2025, the Cabinet had asked officers to consider ending taxi testing by CVMU and instead outsourcing this activity to a set number of independent testing stations throughout the Borough.  This would involve testing stations being invited to apply to become Council approved for the mechanical testing of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles (sometimes referred to generically in the report as “taxis”) and vehicle owners would be able to choose which testing station to use from the list of approved garages.  The proposed changes, including criteria that the testing station would have to meet, application procedure, selection procedure and circumstances whereby approved status could be removed would require amendments to the Council’s existing policy for private hire vehicles and hackney carriages.

 

A public consultation in respect of the proposal had taken place between 23^rd June and 14^th July 2025.  The consultation had been emailed to all current drivers, vehicle proprietors and operators, plus elected members.  The consultation survey had also been published on the Council’s website for use by the public.  Social media posts had been published, inviting both trade and public to participate in the consultation exercise and a press release had been published in the local press.  The questions asked in the consultation survey were set out at Appendix 3 of the report.

 

There were 130 responses to the consultation.  Details of those responding were as follows:

 

Description of respondent

 

• Members of the public – 100
• Taxi / private hire trade – 25
• Garage owners – 5

 

Respondents’ link to Hyndburn

 

• Respondents living in the Borough – 97%
• Respondents working in the Borough – 70%

 

Respondents’ usage of taxi’s / private hire vehicles

 

• Use every week – 32%
• Use every month – 22%
• Use a few times a year – 30%
• Never use – 16%

 

Some key data from the consultation was as follows:

 

• 69% believed that taxi safety would decrease, 12% thought safety would improve and 17% thought the change would have no effect on safety, whilst 2% had no opinion on what the effect would be;
• 58.21% of respondents who identified themselves as taxi trade believed the proposed changes would not be an improvement to current arrangements.  However, more respondents answered this question than had identified as taxi trade earlier in the survey (67 responses); and
• 59.62% replied that they were not happy with the proposed selection criteria.  However, the reasons given suggested that a portion of those respondents were unhappy with the proposal rather than the specific selection criteria.

 

The concerns raised about the proposal included the following:

 

• A large number of the respondents had expressed concerns about a drop in the standard of vehicle testing and a resulting decline in taxi safety for the travelling public and other road users;
• A number of the respondent’s had expressed concern about the potential for unscrupulous garages to be involved in taxi testing and that externalisation could be more open to fraud and corruption than the current arrangement; and
• Some of the respondents were concerned the Council would not be able to properly monitor the activities of the approved garages and would therefore have less control over vehicle standards.

 

In response to the concerns above, members were asked to note that the DVSA approved all MOT testing stations, and would only approve those it considered to be of a high enough standard to carry out MOT tests.  Concerns relating to MOT standards could be referred to the DVSA for review and investigation.  The MOT aspect of the test would be the standard MOT that all road vehicles were required to pass.  Furthermore, the Council would not be allowing all garages in the Borough to carry out taxi testing, as the proposal envisaged that only a limited number of garages would be permitted to undertake taxi testing.  These garages would be required to meet the specified criteria and would be subject to ongoing monitoring.  If a garage failed to meet the required standards, then its authorisation could be removed.  In addition, if externalisation occurred the Council would increase the number of random vehicle checks and safety operations it carried out each year.  Also, the taxi / private hire compliance certificate would still be issued, and the garages would be required to carry out the additional testing specified in the Council’s supplementary testing manual (details of which were set out at Appendix 4 of the report).

 

Respondents who were in favour of the externalisation of taxi testing had given the following reasons:

 

• An easier process might entice drivers to return from Wolverhampton;
• The testing would be of the same standard as CVMU;
• Testing stations were all professionals who carried out the same tests;
• It provided opportunities for local garages;
• It would be easier to book a convenient slot when there were multiple garages offering testing; and
• It would be cheaper, quicker and easier.

 

In relation to Hyndburn’s neighbouring authorities, Blackburn and Rossendale carried out internal vehicle testing. Burnley and Pendle allowed approved testing stations to carry out testing and Burnley had 3 approved garages, whilst Pendle had 5.

 

Should the Council decide to proceed with this proposal, the opportunity to become an authorised garage would be advertised for at least 3 weeks.  The opportunity would also be publicised via the Council’s social media channels.  Once applications were received, the garages would be inspected by Licensing Officers to ensure that they met the suggested criteria (as set out at Appendix 1 of the report).  The applications from those garages that passed this stage in the selection process would then be considered by the Executive Director (Legal & Democratic Services), with support from the Licensing Manager, relevant Portfolio Holder and the Chair of Judicial Committee, prior to a determination being made by the Executive Director (Legal & Democratic Services).

 

There were costs in terms of staff time associated with setting up the arrangement, the application and inspection process, as well as ongoing monitoring and administration costs.  The initial set up cost was £92.40 per garage (assuming 5 garages were to be approved). Each application would cost £48.60, an inspection would cost £145.80 and the ongoing cost per garage was £148.80 per year.  The Licensing Manager proposed that fees were charged to each applicant on a staged basis, as follows:

 

• Application cost - £50
• Inspection Charge (if the garage met the criteria) - £120
• Approval and Set-Up cost (if approved) - £80

 

Consideration would need to be given as to whether an annual fee should be applied to cover ongoing costs and monitoring and there would be a further report to Council about this in due course.  The calculation of costs was provided as Appendix 5 of the report.

 

In reaching a decision in respect of this matter members were referred to the following Appendices set out in the report:

 

• Appendix 1 – Proposed selection criteria for approved testing stations
• Appendix 2 – Proposed amendment to taxi and private hire policy
• Appendix 3 – Consultation Questions
• Appendix 4 – Supplementary Testing Manual
• Appendix 5 – Fee Calculations
• Appendix 6 – Equality impact assessment

 

Councillors Loraine Cox, Mohammed Younis, Steven Smithson, Zak Khan and Munsif Dad all spoke in favour of this change to the policy.  The proposals had taken some time to come to fruition and a number of councillors and former councillors who had worked on this over a lengthy period were thanked for their efforts.  Councillor Plummer noted that only three testing stations in the Borough would currently meet the proposed criteria within the first 12 months of operating any new arrangements.  She asked if this number was sufficient.  Councillor Judith Addison enquired if the changes would result in redundancies at CVMU.

 

Councillor Dad reassured members that public safety was the Council’s primary concern and that standards would be monitored.  He cited examples of other Lancashire districts that had similar arrangements in place, which worked well.  He also hoped that the changes would help to reduce the numbers of taxi proprietors becoming Uber drivers and seeking licences from Wolverhampton or Knowsley Councils.  In response to the questions raised by Councillors Plummer and Addison, he reported that the Council was looking to approve a maximum of five testing stations and confirmed that no redundancies were anticipated at CVMU. He also acknowledged and thanked Councillor Plummer for her work in previous roles on the Taxi Liaison Group and Judicial Committee (Private Hire & Hackney Carriage Licensing).

 

Resolved                                 (1)   That the Council resolves to discontinue the mechanical testing of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles and to externalise this function on the basis set out in this report.

 

(2)   As a consequence of (1) above, that the Council:

 

                                                                            i.       agrees to designate up to 5 garages within the Borough as approved testing stations to carry out mechanical testing of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles and that, where possible, those garages will be located in different parts of the Borough;

 

                                                                           ii.       delegates authority to the Executive Director (Legal & Democratic Services) following consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder and Chair of the Judicial Committee (Private Hire & Hackney Carriage Licensing), to select and appoint approved testing stations for this purpose (noting that the scheme of delegation to officers will be amended to this effect so that the delegation arrangement will cover the appointment of replacement garages in the event of changes being required in the future);

 

                                                                          iii.       approves the revised taxi and private hire licensing policy and supplementary testing manual set out at Appendices 2 and 4 to the report and in particular the criteria for selection as an approval testing station and for removal of designation as an approved testing station set out at Appendix 1 to the report.

 

                                                                          iv.       delegates authority to the Executive Director (Legal & Democratic Services) following consultation with the Chair of the Judicial Committee (Private Hire & Hackney Carriage Licensing), to remove designation as an approved testing station in accordance with the criteria set out in the Council’s taxi and private hire licensing policy (noting that the scheme of delegation to officers will be amended to this effect);

 

                                                                           v.       delegates authority to the Executive Director (Legal & Democratic Services), following consultation with the Chair of Judicial Committee (Private Hire & Hackney Carriage Licensing), to suspend designation as an approved testing station to enable an investigation to be carried out where there are reasonable grounds to consider that one or more of the criteria for removal of designation as an approved testing station may have been met (noting that the scheme of delegation to officers will be amended to this effect);

 

                                                                          vi.       approves the fees proposed in Paragraph 3.11 of the report.