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Newcastle Taxi Licensing Newsletter: Dec 2009

by Site Admin. on January 15, 2010 · 5 comments

This is the first edition of Newcastle City Council’s Licensing newsletter, produced in conjunction with Northumbria Police. It has been created with the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire trade in mind. The publication will discuss various council issues and developments affecting the trade and the Council will also incorporate regular updates on enforcement statistics.

The Council has taken the decision to completely overhaul its Policy and Conditions in relation to hackney carriage and private hire licensing. Work is currently underway to produce new conditions for all related licences. These are currently at a draft stage and will require consultation before completion / implementation. This Policy review seeks to create a more fair and transparent licensing system for enforcement and trade alike. In turn, this looks to ensure that the public can distinguish clearly between a Newcastle Hackney Carriage which can be hailed in the street and a Private Hire vehicle which cannot and must be pre-booked (through a licensed Operator).

Recent discussions with the Newcastle Hackney Forum raised issues regarding an imbalance of vehicle checks carried out on Hackney Carriages as opposed to Private Hire vehicles. The Licensing Authority has sought to address this through operational work with Northumbria Police and targeted enforcement strategies. This has enabled examination of vehicles in transit and those licensed by other authorities.

Any hackney carriage used to undertake a private hire booking under this operator’s licence must be one that is licensed by this authority pursuant to section 37 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847.
Any hackney carriage used to undertake a private hire booking under this operator’s licence must be driven by a person holding a licence issued by this authority pursuant to section 46 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847.

The introduction of the conditions is to ensure that all Private Hire Operators use only Newcastle City Council licensed vehicles and drivers. This enables the Council to carry out it’s enforcement duties effectively and protect the travelling public. The conditions will be applied to both new and renewal applications.

The Licensing Authority will be unable to renew any vehicle licence once expired. A new application would subsequently be required. As a current numbers limitation exists for Hackney Carriages new applications will not be considered and the licence therefore deleted. Similarly unless there are significant mitigating circumstances, it is expected that licensed drivers will adhere to the timescales of their licence.

The Council has taken the decision to completely overhaul its Policy and Conditions in relation to hackney carriage and private hire licensing. Work is currently underway to produce new conditions for all related licences. These are currently at a draft stage and will require consultation before completion / implementation. This Policy review seeks to create a more fair and transparent licensing system for enforcement and trade alike. In turn, this looks to ensure that the public can distinguish clearly between a Newcastle Hackney Carriage which can be hailed in the street and a Private Hire vehicle which cannot and must be pre-booked (through a licensed Operator).

The Full Newsletter can be viewed Here:

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Tagged as: Licensing, newsletters

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

Denver Brannick January 30, 2010 at 2:11 pm: Hi thanks a lot for a perceptive post, I actually found your blog by mistake while looking on Goole for something else closely related, anyhow before i ramble on too much i would just like to state how much I enjoyed your post, I have bookmarked your site and also taken your RSS feed, Once Again thanks for the blog post keep up the good work.
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Another Taxi Man January 16, 2010 at 10:42 am: @taxi man, I tried to find that McDonald’s and ended up in Dunston, I was bloody starving by then and had to make do with a bananna. (They’re free with you’re radio if you work for Blueline).

That’ll encourage the out of towners’
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taxi man January 16, 2010 at 9:23 am: i picked up a fare from a house in dunston yesterday and he told me on thursay the person hes was going to see booked a blueline car to pick him up from central station to go back to dunston ,(as he was from scotland he didnt know his way around ) they ended up in blaydon because the driver did not have a clue where he was going and went along scotswood road and he eventually ended up at the blaydon mc-donalds because the driver was lost .
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blueline driver January 16, 2010 at 1:42 am: All of the out of town hacks can come to blueline cos Ian will welcome them with open arms.
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NorthTyne Driver January 16, 2010 at 12:21 am: Well done Newcastle,though it’s taken some time but they seem to be taking the initiative and doing what every locally licenced driver has been suggesting for the last 18 months.I will be very surprised if NT follow suit though, it will have to be passed through “Legal” several times first. so I would think there will be an influx of “out of town cars” to NT offices over the next couple of months,who will then proceed to the Toon on a weekend to carry on Flimping, but the enforcement stats were also an improvement 369 vehicles moved on. That can only be good even if that includes locally licenced hacks,bite the bullet lads at least something seems to be happening at long last.
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