The Department for Transport have published a report by Professor Mohammed Abdel-Haq who was Chairman of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, which the LPHCA was part of. The theme of the report is Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing - Steps Towards a Safer and More Robust System.

The LPHCA welcomes the report and most of the proposals therein but has grave concerns about a few of the recommendations and the LPHCA has flagged these in the annex of the report, which can be found by clicking HERE.

The primary concerns are proposals to:

• Recommendation 8 – Introduce a way to cap PHV numbers
• Recommendation 11 – Restrict where PHVs and taxis can operate
• Recommendation 17 – Mandate CCTV in taxis and PHVs
• Recommendation 30 – Mandate numbers of wheelchair accessible vehicles by Fleet

The LPHCA has also made comments on a couple of the other proposals but more widely believes that following the Law Commission Review, and Professor Mohammed Abdel-Haq’s excellent report, a number of these recommendations could be brought in fairly quickly as there appears to be wide ranging consensus on key areas.

We also feel that for certain recommendations like English Language, enhanced DBS and barred lists checks, use of the National Anti-Fraud Network (NAFN) database, etc., that an absolute standard should be put in place. This would ensure that inconsistency, which has traditionally been the root cause of licensing problems, is eradicated.