John Hayes Conservative, South Holland and The Deepings

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals on taxi and private hire vehicle licensing to improve passenger safety.

    Hansard source
    (Citation: HC Deb, 10 April 2019, cW)
 
 Nusrat Ghani Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport), Assistant Whip (HM Treasury)

The response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing issued on 12 February committed to bring forward legislation to enable national minimum standards in licensing, enable greater enforcement powers for licensing officers and to establish a national licensing database to assist in the sharing of relevant information.

The Department is currently consulting on draft statutory guidance to be issued to licensing authorities on how they can use their extensive existing powers to protect children and vulnerable adults from harm when using taxi and private hire vehicle services.

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Thangam Debbonaire Opposition Whip (Commons)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of implementing recommendation 11 of the Task and Finish Group report on Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles published in September 2018.

  
    Hansard source
    (Citation: HC Deb, 9 April 2019, cW)
 
 Nusrat Ghani Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport), Assistant Whip (HM Treasury)

As outlined in the Government’s response to the report of the Chair of the Task and Finish Group, published in February 2019, Government is considering carefully how the restriction of out-of-area journeys by taxis and private hire vehicles proposed might work in practice, with a view to legislating.
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MILTON KEYNES

 Taxi Licensing Officers from Milton Keynes and South Northants Councils recently joined forces with Thames Valley Police to carry out checks on taxi drivers on an evening of positive enforcement action.

On 5 April 2019 licensed vehicles were stopped and checked on the roads of Milton Keynes during a safety operation which targeted Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles with suspected defects and licensing breaches.  The aim of the operation was to proactively tackle vehicle defects found among taxis in the city.

As a result, 21 vehicles licensed by Milton Keynes, South Northants and Aylesbury Vale Councils were stopped and checked at the roadside – of which 13 were identified as having defects that required further examination by the Council’s testing station.

All 13 vehicles were thoroughly inspected by examiners with a variety of faults, including tyre damage, defective lights, oil leaks, rust, no roof/door signage, faulty brakes and bodywork damage.

Four of the 13 vehicles were licensed by Milton Keynes and nine by Aylesbury Vale Council.  One further vehicle licensed by SNC was suspended for vehicle defects at the road side and the plate was surrendered by the driver.

Steve Hayes, Head of Transport at MK Council said:  “It is vital that people have absolute confidence in the safety of licensed vehicles and this operation was designed to highlight those who do not maintain their vehicles. 

“We will continue to work with Thames Valley Police and our neighbouring Local Authorities to ensure the safety of the public when using these services.”

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