CARDIFF COUNCIL Agenda No. CYNGOR CAERDYDD PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE: 4 October 2011 Report of the Head of Regulatory and Supporting Services REVIEW OF HACKNEY CARRIAGE AND PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS. 1. Background 1.1 The Authority’s vehicle licence conditions have substantially been in place for many years but have been subject to many piecemeal minor amendments. In recent times concern has been expressed by responsible authorities and the public of Cardiff about the standard of hackney carriages being used in the City. It has therefore been thought appropriate to review the issue. 1.2 Licensing legislation gives local authorities the duty to ensure that the vehicles it licences for the purpose of hire and reward are of a suitable type to provide a safe and comfortable service. 1.3 The report details the findings following a review of vehicle conditions for the information of members and provides a number of options for possible further consideration. 2. Cardiff Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Conditions. 2.1 Under the Council’s current vehicle licence conditions for Hackney Carriages and Private Hire Vehicles, three different standard classes of vehicles are recognised for the purpose of licensing: Saloon cars or MPVs; Prestige vehicles; Purpose built vehicles. Purpose built hackney carriages include those vehicles which meet the Metropolitan Conditions of Fitness and one off suitably adapted vehicles which are licensed on their individual merits. All vehicles must be right hand drive with four doors and must meet certain criteria and licence conditions. The differences between the standard classes are summarised in the following table: Specification Saloon Car Prestige Purpose Vehicle Built Maximum age at first application 25 months Under 10 Under10 years years Maximum permitted age 6 years 10 years 10 years Age at which it may be annually Until 4 years Until 4 years 10 years tested Headroom Minimum 32 Minimum 32 N/A inches inches Rear Leg room Minimum 30 Minimum 30 N/A inches inches Rear Seat Depth Minimum 18 Minimum 18 N/A inches inches Rear Seat Width Minimum 54 Minimum 54 N/A inches inches Central Door Locking System No No Yes Required 2.2 On application for recognition of a new vehicle type, Licensing Enforcement Officers inspect the vehicle to ensure that they meet standards and a list of approved vehicle types is maintained by the licensing authority. 2.3. Purpose Built Vehicles In order to be classified as of a purpose built type a vehicle type must be type approved as a passenger carrying vehicle by the relevant type approval national authority in accordance with EEC legislation. It must be capable of carrying a passenger in a wheelchair in comfort and safety. A vehicle of the type must also be inspected by members of the Committee to determine if it is suitable for use as a purpose built type vehicle in Cardiff. In considering the appropriateness of a vehicle as purpose built for use as a hackney carriage the Committee consider the safety and suitability of the vehicle for the purpose and in particular consider the: type, size and design of the vehicle ease of access and egress to and from the vehicle use of the vehicle by passengers in wheelchairs the storage of any necessary equipment such as ramps suitability and comfort of the seating arrangement provision for fitment of a taximeter suitability of the roof sign capacity and suitability of the luggage compartment Currently there are a number of vehicles classified as purpose built for the purposes of licensing as hackney carriages in Cardiff which are detailed in section 7.4 of this report. 2.4 Saloon/MPV Vehicles A list of approved vehicles is maintained at the Licensing Office. Vehicles not on the list may only be approved if they meet the specifications summarised in the table in 2.1. In the case of applications for minibus type vehicles, in calculating passenger capacity, only one seat in the front row should be utilised for the conveyance of members of the public, so as to ensure the safety and comfort of both the public and the driver. 2.5 Prestige Vehicles The prestige vehicle classification was introduced to encourage prospective vehicle purchasers to obtain vehicles which would provide the public with the most appropriate vehicle for the purposes of hire and reward. The prestige class does not mean that the vehicle is classed as what the motor trade may regard as prestige, but simply that it is of a type that would make it good for use for hire and reward. Before being awarded prestige status the vehicle is inspected by Committee Members and assessed against the following criteria: ease of access and egress to and from the vehicle; external appearance; internal passenger space and comfort; Quality of the interior seating, fitments and equipment; and capacity and suitability of the luggage compartment Details of those vehicle types which have been granted prestige status are attached as Appendix A. Only 13 vehicle types have been refused prestige status and none have been refused since 5 July 2005. 3. Composition of Cardiff’s Fleet of Licensed Vehicles (As at August 2011) 3.1 Currently 244 vehicle types are approved suitable for a grant of a licence. Of these vehicles, 114 are classified as prestige, 45 are classified as purpose built, and the remaining 85 are saloon/MPV type vehicles. 3.2 The current hackney carriage fleet is comprised of around 50 different types of vehicles, details of the most popular of which are provided in the following table. Make Model Number %age Volkswagen Passat 188 19.6 Peugeot E7s 176 18.4 Fiat Doblo 151 15.8 London Taxis TX 37 3.8 Ford Mondeo 32 3.3 Fiat TW220 28 2.8 Vauxhall Vectra 28 2.8 Toyota Avensis 28 2.8 Volkswagen Sharan 24 2.5 Fiat Scudo 19 1.9 Peugeot Eurobus 16 1.7 Rover 600 series 13 1.3 Vauxhall Omega 12 1.2 Mercedes CSeries 11 1.1 Skoda Octavia 11 1.1 Other vehicles 196 20.5 3.3 The fleet of private hire vehicles is comprised of over 60 different types of vehicles details of the most popular of which are provided in the following table. Make Model Number %age Volkswagen Passat 150 18.1 Ford Mondeo 126 15.1 Vauxhall Vectra 100 12.0 Volkswagen Sharan 55 6.6 Skoda Octavia 36 4.3 Ford Galaxy 33 3.9 Seat Alhambra 28 3.3 Skoda Superb 26 3.1 Toyota Avensis 23 2.7 Vauxhall Omega 20 2.4 Mercedes C Class 18 2.1 Mercedes E Class 17 2.0 Fiat Doblo 16 1.9 Rover 75 14 1.7 Audi A4 12 1.4 Other Vehicles 180 21.7 3.4 The age profile of the fleet of licensed vehicles is detailed in the following table. Hackney Carriage Private Hire Vehicles 2011 2010 2011 2010 Age No. %age %age No. %age %age Up to 1 year of age 6 0.6 3.8 19 2.3 4.2 2 years of age 21 2.3 7.0 34 4.1 7.1 3 years of age 38 4.1 9.1 42 5.1 11.5 4 years of age 126 13.5 13.6 98 11.8 12.7 5 years of age 107 11.4 18.7 119 14.4 15.3 6 years of age 175 18.7 14.4 120 14.5 16.5 7 years of age 129 13.8 13.5 133 16.0 14.8 8 years of age 141 15.1 7.9 120 14.5 10.5 9 years of age 100 10.7 7.6 74 8.9 5.2 10 years of age or over 89 9.5 4.4 70 8.4 2.3 4. Current Issues with Cardiff’s Fleet of Vehicles. 4.1 The table in 3.4 demonstrates that the majority of both hackney carriage vehicles and private hire vehicles are 6 years old or more. When comparing this year’s figures to last years, it indicates that the overall age of the fleet is increasing, with nearly 10% of hackney carriages now over the age of 10 years old compared with 4.4% the previous year. There has also been an overall reduction in the number of newer vehicles being licensed, with the current percentage of hackney carriages under a year old being 0.6% compared to 3.8% the previous year. 4.2 Cardiff’s Marketing and Tourism Service receive numerous complaints about hackney carriages operating in the City from tourists and visitors to the city who are used to different standards. The complaints concern the condition of hackney carriage vehicles. 4.3 Officers of South Wales Police have also expressed concern about the condition and age of hackney carriages in use in the city. In particular officers identify the continued use of aging Rover vehicles as not being appropriate to the needs of the Capital City of Wales. 4.4 Concern has been expressed by Licensing Enforcement Officers that many of the hackney carriages they are inspecting are in poor condition. In the last 6 months, 388 warnings have been issued in respect of taxis, many of which relate to poor vehicle conditions such as damaged bodywork, missing wheel trims and defective headlamps. This compares to 295 warnings in the same period last year. 4.5 Licensing Enforcement Officers intermittently perform joint taxi operations with South Wales Police, whereby vehicles are stopped and thoroughly checked. During the last operation in May 2011 a total of 79 vehicles were stopped and checked with the following results: 26% were given a verbal warning 18% received a Stop Notice (prohibited to use vehicle until fault remedied and notice removed by an Officer) 15% received a Pre-Stop Notice (given a period of time to remedy the fault) 16% were referred to be considered by the Public Protection Committee 25% No Action taken 4.6 Operations such as the one described above highlight that the number of defective vehicles in the fleet is a significant problem.