YESTERDAY IN PARLIAMENT

Gillian Keegan Conservative, Chichester

What steps the Government have taken to improve electric vehicle charge point infrastructure.

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Richard Harrington Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)

We have a range of grant schemes to support the installation of charging infrastructure—on-street, off-street and at workplaces. At the autumn Budget, the Chancellor announced a £400 million joint public and private charging infrastructure investment fund.
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Mark Pawsey Conservative, Rugby

My constituency is already home to the new electric London taxi, and we have recently heard the announcement of £80 million of investment in a new electric battery development facility in Coventry. Does the Minister agree that this presents opportunities for my constituency and the wider area to establish leadership in the electric vehicles sector?

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Gillian Keegan Conservative, Chichester

Chichester District Council has invested in 20 new electric vehicle charging points in carparks throughout the district. However, a constituent recently told me that it took him six and a half hours to get from Chichester to Oxford in his electric car because there were insufficient charging points during the journey. What is the Minister doing to join up individual council initiatives to ensure that there is a comprehensive network of charging points nationwide?

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Richard Harrington Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)

We are pressing hard on this. The Government are taking powers under the Automated and Electric Vehicle Bill to ensure that the infrastructure is rolled out. Government leadership, along with local authority engagement and a growing private sector, means that the UK now has more than 11,500 publicly accessible charge points.

 The Government have committed £15 million to ensuring that there will be one every 20 miles on the strategic road network. That is coming, and it will be coming soon.
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Two private hire cab drivers from Milton Keynes have been convicted of blagging or picking up passengers illegally.

Abdirahman Ahmed Ibrahim of Boundary Crescent, Stony Stratford, appeared at Milton Keynes Magistrates’ Court on Friday and pleaded guilty to plying for hire and driving without valid motor insurance in July 2017.

He was fined £120 for plying for hire and £120 for invalid insurance. He was also given 6 DVLA penalty points and has to pay costs of £631, with a victim surcharge of £30. Mr Ibrahim is licensed by Aylesbury Vale District Council and is operated by Speedline.

Shahul Abdul Razak of Dexter Avenue, Oldbrook, also attended court and pleaded guilty to plying for hire and driving without valid motor insurance in July 2017. He was fined £131 for plying for hire and £131 for invalid insurance. He was also given 6 DVLA penalty points and has to pay costs of £631, with a victim surcharge of £30. Mr Razak is licensed by South Northants Council and is operated by Speedline.

The case was brought following a joint enforcement operation carried out by Milton Keynes & South Northants Taxi Enforcement Teams and Thames Valley Police in June and July 2017. The court heard how officers, acting as members of the public, engaged the drivers on journeys which had not been pre-booked from one location to another in Milton Keynes. At the completion of these journeys taxi enforcement officers and police were waiting.

Investigations by council officers showed that the vehicles were not lawfully pre-booked for these journeys. The vehicles were licensed by South Northants and Aylesbury Vale Councils and were displaying door signs of Private Hire Operator Speedline.

Councillor Catriona Morris, chairman of the MK Regulatory Committee, said: “Milton Keynes Council takes passenger safety very seriously. The laws and licensing standards that we enforce are in place to ensure that passengers are safe. People should be aware that if they use private hire vehicles without booking in advance then the vehicle will not be insured if an accident occurs.

“Whilst it is unfortunate that the number of offenders is still too high I am pleased that our enforcement partners, Thames Valley Police & South Northants District Council, have supported us during this operation.

“I hope that this joined up approach and on-going prosecutions will eventually get the message through that if you come into Milton Keynes then you must abide by the rules or you will face the consequences.

“I’m very pleased to note that Aylesbury Vale District Council is about to introduce a detailed Knowledge Test for its drivers and has also provided MKC Officers with delegated powers to formally deal with their vehicles at the roadside.”

Two Luton drivers were also convicted after appearing at the same court hearing on Friday. They are: Faizan Ali of Townsley Close, Luton, pleaded guilty to plying for hire and driving without valid motor insurance in June 2017. He was fined £120 for plying for hire and £120 for invalid insurance. He was also given 6 DVLA penalty points and has to pay costs of £631, with a victim surcharge of £30. Mr Ali stated that he had not received any training on plying from hire from Speedline or Aylesbury Vale. Mr Ali is licensed by Aylesbury Vale District Council and is operated by Speedline.

Monzur Ahmed of Bosmore Road, Luton, pleaded guilty for plying for hire and driving without valid motor insurance in July 2017. He was fined £145 to plying for hire and £145 for invalid insurance. He was also given 6 DVLA penalty points and has to pay costs of £631, with a victim surcharge of £30. Mr Ahmed is licensed by South Northants District Council and is operated by Speedline.

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 A blind champion skier today urged taxi app firms to enforce the law by telling drivers they must pick up visually impaired people and guide dogs.

John Dickinson-Lilley, who spends more than £600 a week commuting, said he had been repeatedly left at the kerbside when drivers refuse to take his animal. The charity Guide Dogs said complaints about the issue had doubled in three years from 66 to 146.

Mr Dickinson-Lilley, right, 39, of Forest Hill is head of external affairs at a construction firm and travels with black Labrador-Retriever cross Brett. He said drivers often claimed an allergy to animals.

A 2016 British champion and European Cup slalom winner, he is training for the 2022 Beijing Paralympics. He said that at work “I meet ministers and parliamentarians. I have to travel by taxi because we get battered on the Tube. But unfortunately private hire firms don’t help.

“It’s embarrassing and affects your credibility because you turn up late. Black cabs are the only ones I can guarantee will take us. You say to Uber or Addison Lee, ‘It’s critical the drivers know I’ve got a guide dog.’ But there’s times they turn up then drive away, or just don’t stop, which is illegal. It’s a humiliation. I get really angry.”

The Equality Act 2010 states taxis and private hire vehicles must carry the guide dog, allow it to stay with the owner and not charge extra. Lawbreakers face a £1,000 fine.

Uber said: “We remind drivers of this. Any found to have refused to take a service animal will permanently lose access to Uber and risks having their private hire licence taken away.”

Addison Lee did not comment.

Guide Dogs wants mandatory equality training for taxi and cab drivers.

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Northampton's taxis will be required to scrap their diesels and upgrade to electric and hybrid in as little as seven years.

A borough council strategy to cut pollution in the town has picked out Northampton's 850 taxis and private hire cabs as a main contributor to emissions - but want them to be "part of the solution".

But Steve Ward, a drivers' representative for the Northampton Private Hire Association, says Hackney Carriage drivers and cabbies who have just invested in a car will be "kicked into the dirt" by the plans.

The borough council's new Northampton Low Emission Strategy (NLES) reads: "Taxis operate mainly in the urban area where air pollution is greatest and often leave their engines idling on taxi ranks.

"We will seek to reduce access to the most polluting commercial vehicles whilst [promoting] an uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles."

It comes after a 2017 study found one-in-20 deaths in Northampton are attributable to air pollutants, specifically a poisonous diesel engine byproduct called nitrogen dioxide (N0x). Studies show pollution hotspots in Northampton could produce twice the EU legal limit for N0x annually.

The Government is at risk of being sanctioned for its N0x emissions if it does not get hem under control, which would impact local authorities who have not done their part to reduce pollutants.

In line with a national air quality plan set out last year, the council plans to set emission standards for taxis, meaning diesel cars older than 2014 will not be given licenses from December 2025 onwards.

Eventually, petrol cars and hybrids will also be phased out until only electric taxis remain in 2030. Charging points will also be built into taxi ranks across the town.

Meanwhile, the Government has announced a plan to ban all new petrol and diesel cars by 2040.

But Steve Ward said: "We feel the Government has been pushing drivers to buy diesel for years. Now the cabbies have invested in them, the Government's changed its mind.

"Electric vehicles are not the beauties they seem. Government policy turn around in a few months on diesel, who's to say it won't turn around again here?

"A new Hackney Carriage Hybrid costs £55,000. Meanwhile, when the cabbies try to sell their 'unclean' vehicles there will be no market for them."

The Northampton Private Hire Association is asking the council to give cabbies a more lenient deadline to upgrade their old vehicles.

The council will also consider creating a clean air zone in the town that would fine high-emission vehicles.

The NLES is still awaiting final apprival.

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A South Yorkshire child sex abuse survivor has taken her campaign to get stricter checks on taxi drivers to the Houses of Parliament.

Sammy Woodhouse, who was groomed as a teenager by abuse gang ringleader Arshid Hussain, has called for every taxi in the country to be fitted with CCTV.

She travelled to London today with members of the Suzy Lampugh Trust who have published a report claiming that taxi drivers with multiple convictions were being granted licences in some parts of the country.

The group met MPs to talk through its findings following a Freedom Information (FOI) request for information to 316 local authorities across the UK. Sheffield City Council replied to the request but refused to respond "due to it not being possible to extract the data required in the time frame or financial constraints set for a FOI response".

The trust called for national minimum standards for taxi licensing - similar to those in place in Rotherham following the town's child sexual exploitation scandal - to be introduced nationwide.

A report by Professor Alexis Jay found at least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual abuse in the town between 1997 and 2013. The committee noted the concerns raised relate to a "very small minority" of drivers in Rotherham but they had undermined public confidence.

Sammy said: "By introducing national minimum standards for licensing we can improve safety checks on drivers making it a safer and better trade for all. For example, having CCTV and audio in all taxis will help to prevent crime against passengers and drivers, as well as providing evidence when a crime is committed.

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