Agenda item

R Hill explained, as the report sets out, under a portfolio holder decision made last year, every wheelchair accessible hackney carriage licensed by the Council has been designated under section 167 of the Equality Act 2010. This means that drivers of those vehicles now have a specific legal duty to carry and assist passengers in wheelchairs.

As a follow-up to that decision, we need to ensure that these vehicles are subject to appropriate licence conditions requiring them to carry the loading and restraint equipment to fulfil the legal duties and this report proposes amending the Council’s standard licence conditions for hackney carriage vehicles to include these requirements.

Separately, since the designation decisions were made, comments have been received suggesting that designated vehicles should be more visible, with some kind of marking to denote their special status and responsibilities towards passengers in wheelchairs. A proposal has been included in this report for additional stickers to be displayed on the side and rear windows.  Short consultation with the taxi trade has taken place – despite being sent to over 150 registered email addresses, only 4 online responses and 1 email response were received – however these unanimously back additional signage as a licence requirement.

The email comment suggested that the wheelchair logo should instead be displayed on roof signs on the top of vehicles. However, not all designated vehicles are required to display roof signs – purpose-built taxis with dome lights are exempt from that requirement. Additionally, a wheelchair user may not be able to see a roof sign on the tallest vehicles on the fleet. The window stickers are therefore recommended by officers, and Committee are asked to include the additional condition at paragraph e) in their deliberations.

Councillor Taylor asked how big the stickers would be as the pictures on the handouts looked small. R Hill advised that the suggestion was 4-5 inches square as he was conscious of restricting the driver’s vision out of the vehicle and therefore committing an offence. Councillor Taylor queried why the stickers would be on the window and not on the doors. R Hill advised that they had suggested the window as the sticker would be roughly at eye-level, but also because companies often had signage on their doors. He added that they also had to be mindful of damage to the cars paintwork, fading, etc.

Councillor Whitman felt that the stickers were a good idea.

Councillor Douris referred to paragraph 2.2 on page 19 of the agenda. He queried the wording of the 6 monthly testing intervals and was concerned of individuals finding a loophole. R Hill suggested re-wording it to ‘evidence of thorough and recent inspection.’ The committee were happy with this suggestion.

Resolved:

That the Licensing and Health and Safety Enforcement Sub-Committee unanimously agreed to impose the following conditions on all hackney carriage vehicle licences issued in respect of designated wheelchair-accessible vehicles (in addition to all current standard licence conditions):

a.    Appropriate Wheelchair Tie-down and Occupant Restraint Systems (WTORS) for securing a ‘reference wheelchair’ and occupant must be carried in the licensed vehicle at all times, and maintained in good order. Equipment should be clearly labelled to show the level/standard to which tested.

b.    The vehicle must be fitted with or otherwise carry either a ramp or a lift for loading passengers while seated in a ‘reference wheelchair’, designed for that specific purpose, maintained in good order, and with visible marked reference to a safe working load (SWL) of at least 250kgs and certification to BS 6109 (or equivalent standard).

c.    All drivers of the licensed vehicle must be trained by the proprietor in the safe usage of the equipment referred to in the preceding paragraphs.

d.    Where a lift is fitted to the licensed vehicle, evidence of thorough inspection by a competent person under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) must be provided to the licensing authority, at 6-monthly intervals.

e.    Signage issued by the Council (or alternative signage agreed in writing by the licensing officer) indicating the wheelchair-accessibility of the licensed vehicle shall be displayed in the following locations on the vehicle, so as to be clearly visible and readable to persons outside of the vehicle:

              i.        On the rear windscreen (or a rear nearside window, if the vehicle features split rear doors), in the upper nearside corner, outside of the area swept by any windscreen wipers;

             ii.        On a lower corner of a suitable passenger window on the nearside of the vehicle.