Taxi Licensing Policy
Draft Taxi Licensing Policy 2021
Hartlepool Borough Council has begun a review of its Taxi Licensing Policy in response to the Government’s publication of new statutory standards for the taxi trade. These new standards require Hartlepool Borough Council to review its policy and, where appropriate, to amend it in order to achieve greater levels of public protection.
The significant proposed changes to the draft Taxi Licensing Policy are: -
- For hackney carriage and private hire drivers, enhanced DBS checks (criminal record checks) will be required every 6 months. All drivers will be expected to join the DBS Update Service (which costs £13 per year) and there should not therefore be any additional financial burden placed on drivers by this requirement.
- Vehicle owners will need to provide a Basic DBS check before first being licensed as an owner. This will not be required when the owner is also a licensed driver
- Private hire operators will be expected to maintain a register of their call handling staff and have them provide a basic DBS check.
For a full explanation of the proposed changes you can read the report that was given to the Council’s Licensing Committee on 25th June 2021.
The Council would also like to hear people’s thoughts on whether hackney carriage licence plates should be non-transferrable. The effect of this would be that anyone who wanted to own a hackney carriage for the first time would need to register their interest with the Council and they would be allocated the next plate once one became available. There would no longer be an opportunity to purchase the plate from its existing ‘owner’. The Council is looking into this issue as it believes that licence plates are accruing a value which must be paid in addition to purchasing the vehicle itself and this may be making it hard for some people to enter the trade. Please note this is NOT part of the Council’s proposed amendments to its policy – the Council is simply looking for people’s views on this particular matter.
If you have any comments regarding the draft policy, please e-mail or write to the Licensing Team at the address below.
The closing date for responses is Friday 10th September 2021.
The Licensing Team
Hartlepool Borough Council
Civic Centre
Hartlepool
TS24 8AY
