Following a review of the City Council’s age policy for hackney carriages and private hire vehicles, on 12 June 2012, the City Mayor decided what the new policy should be. The main features of the new policy will be as follows:
· The same policy will apply to both hackney carriages and private hire vehicles;
· At the time a vehicle is first licensed, it must be no more than five years old, based on the date it was first registered;
· At the time a vehicle’s licence falls to be renewed, it must be no more than eleven years of age, based on the date it was first registered;
· There will be no exceptions to the policy to allow the licensing of older vehicles;
· Vehicles which fail spot checks will no longer have their licence revoked and will be able to be repaired and then return to service.
The above policy will come into force on 1st July 2013. However, the Council has decided that, with immediate effect its policy will be not to revoke licences of vehicles which fail spot checks.
A copy of the signed decision notice, a report to Licensing Committee which sets out details of the consultation that was undertaken, and the executive report which list the options considered can be downloaded from the links below:
