Consultation on Technical and Policy Amendments for Taxi and Private Hire Licences

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How to respond

In writing by returning this consultation document to:

Licensing Section

Cheltenham Borough Council

Municipal Offices

Promenade

GL50 9SA

Electronic copies can be emailed to licensing@cheltenham.gov.uk

If you need further information, please contact the licensing section on 01242 77 5200.

Consultation responses must be received no later than Monday 9 November 2015.

Introduction

The council is consulting on a number of proposed technical and policy changes.

Proposed changes to “Relevance of Convictions, Cautions and Fixed Penalty Notices in Relation to the Licensing of Drivers and Operators”

The council is proposing to make a number of amendments to its convictions policy. The intention is to:

Clarify the policy sections of the policy to better guide Members and applicants/licence holders;

Strengthen the policy position with regards to certain offences; and

Remove references to specific legislation to avoid instances where changes in legislation affect the policy.

A breakdown of the changes proposed is outlined in the amended “Relevance of Convictions, Cautions and Fixed Penalty Notices in Relation to the Licensing of Drivers and Operators” policy.

Do you have any comments to make about the proposed changes to the councils convictions policy?

Click here to enter your response.

Safeguarding training for licence holders

The council is proposing a new policy requirement that all licence holders be required to undertake safe guarding training. The introduction of the training will form part of the council’s fitness assurance for licence holders.

The proposed training will:

be free for taxi and private hire licence holders;

be scheduled to take place around the county (including Cheltenham) with both afternoon and morning sessions;

be delivered by the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board and Gloucestershire Constabulary; and

only have to be undertaken once.

The proposed mandatory training will generally deal with the signs of CSE, trafficking and other safeguarding issues and how licensed drivers can identify these activities and the means of reporting this to the appropriate authorities.

It is also intended to ensure licensed drivers are themselves equipped to guard against false and misleading safeguarding related allegations.

There will be an exemption clause for licensed drivers who have already undertaken comparable training by a recognised training provider.

Do you have any comments to make about the proposed new policy requirement?

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Proposed new style taxi and private hire licences

The council is also considering changing the style of paper licence issued to taxi and private hire licence holders.

At the moment a licensed driver is issued with two driver badges and a paper licence. Included also in the licence pack are a number of other documents including a covering letter, a satisfaction survey, code of conduct for licenced drivers and copies of relevant conditions.

What the council is proposing is:

to continue to issue licensed drivers with two drivers badges; but

to reduce the other documents to one new style paper licence (See examples below).

The new style driver licence will be smaller than the current A4 size and will be fitted in a secure pouch. It will be the same size as the current vehicle licence badge displayed in the vehicle’s windscreen.

The council intends to make alternative arrangements for customer feedback and to give access to conditions. These alternative arrangements will be:

An electronic satisfaction survey; and

Publish the relevant conditions and codes on the website and make these freely available on request.

Do you have any comments to make about the proposal to replace the current paper licence bundle with the new style paper licence?

Click here to enter your response.

Do you have any comments to make about the style or design of the new style paper licence?

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Additional space for comments:

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