Agenda item

The Committee considered two public questions that had been received in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

The first question, from Mr. Abdul Khayal, Chair of the NPHTA related to MOT tests in Moorhey Street Garage and read -

“I did raised this question in 2019 March or November meeting that MOT tests which causing major problems to taxi drivers.

They take the vehicle with fully serviced and some time with private MOT tests certificates still vehicles failed for no apparent reasons.

When a driver asked why my vehicle failed inspectors Shrug of the shoulders which clearly shows What may the reasons he is determined to failed the vehicle ?

I made a little survey  regarding this matters and reported to Mr John Garforth.

I just read previously licensing meeting reports which shows failure rate 52% which never gone so low in past .

Taxi drivers presumption are that inspectors just failing vehicles to make the money nothing else”.

The Chair provided the following response –

“The Council’s vehicle compliance tests are conducted in accordance with the Governments MOT standards and the Council’s own vehicle testing policy. Every vehicle that is tested gets a report issued to the owner which details whether the vehicle has passed or failed and the reasons for failure together with any advisory messages. No clear evidence has been presented to Officers by the trade of any discrepancies.

The rolling 12 months hackney carriage test results show that only 44% of the 119 tests conducted resulted in a pass with the top three reasons for failure being defective lights, brake and suspension. Looking at the figures there has been a clear deterioration in the pass rate since the onset of the COVID pandemic which leads to questions as to how the trade have been maintaining their vehicles. Vehicle inspectors fail vehicles due to defects and for no other reason”.

Further to questions raised by Members in respect of this question, the Licensing Manager advised that it was the responsibility of drivers to present their cars in a fit condition for the test and it was not possible for the garage to maintain a supply of items such as bulbs to fit to vehicles where this might be the only reason for failure.  The Garage was registered with VOSA and was a fully accredited testing station that conducted private MOTs as well as for the taxi trade.  The Licensing Service was expected to be self-funding and no profit was made from MOT testing, the current charge for which was £45 per test against the allowed charge of £54.85.

The second question was from a Mr Farooq relating to taxi driver license renewal requirements and read -

“As per current taxi driver license renewal requirements drivers have to pay a 3rd party company a fee of £24 for checking their UK driver license record. Could you please clarify why I need to pay this 3rd party company to view my driving information when this can be done free of charge on the gov.uk site via DVLA share code. All the information regarding my license can be checked on the gov.uk site. DVLA & UK Government have authorised this method to view driving license data”.

The Chair provided the following response –

“The Council understands your concern. Had it been simply that we undertake a DVLA check only upon renewal it would have been easier to facilitate, but we don’t. Due to a high rate of non-compliance with conditions that drivers should report traffic offences, the Council changed its policy to require annual DVLA checks. For the Council to conduct this themselves by contacting each of our 1300 drivers to send in a code, chase up those that don’t and further suspend those that fail to comply would be a huge administrative task which Officers cannot take on.

It was decided therefore that the system we currently use was easier to administer. We do however monitor changing innovations in technology and best practice and will continue to do so in order to ensure compliance with our policy”.

Further to a query from a Member as to whether the Council could provide the service itself, the Licensing Manager advised that the DVLA had required an £24,000 set-up cost for a new system, with an individual test cost of between £5 - £6 thereafter.  The set-up costs would have needed to have been recouped from drivers and a view was taken to adopt the current process.