Issue - meetings

At its meeting on 8 July 2013 the General Licensing Committee considered a report on whether to introduce a council set taxi tariff or to allow drivers and operators to continue to set their own tariffs.

The report of the head of legal and democratic services, which General Licensing Committee considered on 8 July 2013, was circulated to all councillors with the committee agenda. Supplementary papers were circulated separately.

Please bring this report and additional papers (copy attached) to the meeting.

The recommendation of the General Licensing Committee is:

to allow drivers and operators to continue to set their own tariffs.

Mr THarbour made a statement that he held an account with a local taxi firm but that this did not affect his ability to consider the item with an open mind.

Mr M Harris made a statement that Insight Oxford, the consultants appointed to undertake the consultation, was not associated with his company, Insight Insight. 

Council considered the recommendation of the General Licensing Committee, made at its meeting on 8 July 2013, to allow drivers and operators to continue to set their own tariff.

Mr Leonard, Chairman of the General Licensing Committee, advised Council that at its meeting on 18 October 2012 Council had, in adopting a joint taxi licensing policy, agreed to undertake a further consultation on the issue of the hackney carriage tariff to determine if it should be set by individual operators and drivers or whether a council set tariff should be consulted upon and introduced. He outlined the results of the consultation, attached to the report circulated to all councillors, and explained the reason for the committee’s recommendation.

Council agreed the recommendation to allow drivers and operators to set their own tariffs which reflected the majority view of the consultation responses, would better reflect the wide variety of costs, standards and journeys undertaken, and support free market/competition. 

RESOLVED: to allow drivers and operators to continue to set their own tariffs.

Report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services (attached)

Purpose: to consider the results of the public consultation in order to decide whether the hackney carriage tariff should be set by individual operators or by South Oxfordshire District Council.

The committee is asked to consider the consultation responses set out in Appendix One and recommend Council whether to:

a.      allow drivers and operators to continue to set their own tariffs; or

b.      introduce a council set tariff and undertake a statutory consultation with the trade on structuring and setting the tariff.

The committee had before them the report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services setting out the results of the public consultation; the report from the consultants; and an additional paper setting out the comments from members of the trade and public. The committee considered whether to recommend Council to allow drivers and operators to set their own tariffs, or to introduce a council set tariff and undertake the statutory consultation on structuring and setting this.

Mr R Draper, Licensing Team Leader, Mrs Liz Hayden, Legal, Licensing and Community Safety Manager, and Ms J Bussell of Insight Oxford Consultants Ltd, introduced the report and answered questions from the committee.

The committee debated their recommendation to Council, taking into account the officer’s report, the summary of the public consultation, the verbatim responses received, and the addresses from members of the trade.

Members of the committee noted that the evidence from the consultation process could be considered sound. This showed support for an operator-set tariff. They noted that it was not possible to accurately split the data into Vale and South areas but respondents were asked where they hired taxis. Officers explained that from 1 October 2013 council-approved compliance centres would test meters for accuracy and then seal these. It was not possible to undertake spot-checks on meters. Complaints about over-charging for hackney carriage hires would be investigated by the licensing team.

The committee discussed the option of allowing operators to set their own tariffs for a minimum of three months and notify the licensing authority of these, but concluded this gave no real benefit to the public and was overly bureaucratic and labour intensive. It considered that there were benefits in having a council-set tariff defining a maximum fare. However there were disadvantages for the trade in restricting the fares they could charge, given the wide variety of costs, standards and journeys undertaken. There was limited additional benefit to the public in having a council set tariff over an operator set tariff with a meter, as there would still be a range of tariffs and extra charges in operation. The consultation showed a clear majority in favour of allowing operators and drivers to set their own tariffs.

A motion to recommend Council to allow drivers and operators to continue to set their own tariffs was proposed, seconded, and carried when put to a vote.

RESOLVED: to recommend Council to allow drivers and operators to continue to set their own tariffs.