To consider the above report.

David Scott introduced the report and informed the Panel of both recommendations.

Councillor Hunt read out the email sent from Lisa Hughes as Vice Chairman for the Access Advisory Forum:

Dear Councillor Hunt

It was good to see you at Tuesday’s Planning Inspector’s Hearings and I thought the lady representing the Hurley and Walthams neighbourhood planning group got the salient points across very well.

As you and I discovered, the Local Access Forum and Licensing Panel have a scheduling clash next Tuesday evening. I mentioned to you that I had wanted to sit in the Public Gallery at the Licensing Panel (in my role as vice-chair of the Access Advisory Forum) as one of the agenda items concerns Taxis and People with Disabilities.

The background

Some parts of the Equality Act 2010 did not come into effect until 6th April 2017. The clauses relate to disabled people being treated fairly by taxi/PHV drivers and companies – not refusing a fare because of the passenger’s disability, not charging more to a wheelchair user, not refusing to carry a guide dog unless the driver has a valid medical exemption certificate.

For these clauses to come into effect local licensing authorities needed to change their taxi / PHV licensing agreements, which required some preliminary activities. Statutory guidance was produced by central government well before April 2017.

We discovered in January 2018 that RBWM had not made the necessary change to Taxi/ PHV licence agreements and so wrote to the RBWM licensing team on 1^st Feb 2018. It took some chasing to get any response and we were told it would be raised at the March 2018 Licensing Panel. It then took more chasing to find out the panel’s response and how changes would be progressed - we were dismayed that there was no timescale for those changes

At the same time we came across a Freedom of Information response from RBWM, dated 21 Apr 2017, about this very matter – the council indicated that licensing changes would be completed by June 2017.

More than 15 months after they could have been legally protected, wheelchair users in the borough are still being charged more than other people and we have also been told about occasions where taxi drivers see that the hirer is using a wheelchair and drive off.

We really hope not only that the Licensing Panel will support the necessary changes to bring these clauses into effect for a vulnerable and disadvantaged group of residents, but also that the changes will be made swiftly.

Best regards

Lisa Hughes

vice-chair RBWM Access Advisory Forum

member RBWM Local Access Forum

Greg Nelson informed the Panel that it was the intention of the Licensing Team to enforce this last year but due to operational reasons it wasn’t taken forward but has been now. The delay was regretted but wanted to move forward now.

The timetable of the implementation was discussed and the Panel felt that it should be implemented sooner. Greg Nelson informed the Panel that there was a lot of stress on the Licensing Team at present but would try and implement sooner.

Other points discussed included:

·         Wheelchairs fitting in to taxi’s at taxi ranks and there being a contact telephone number that could be called if no assessable taxi present at rank and to request one.

·         A designated list of assessable taxi’s would be available on the website.

·         It was confirmed that the meter only started to charge once the wheelchair was in the vehicle and the vehicle had started its journey and would stop when the vehicle stopped at the destination. No additional charges should be applied.

·         Councillor Bowden asked how many licensed vehicles there were in the borough and was informed by Greg Nelson that there were 1300 licensed vehicles and 1500 licensed drivers. Councillor Bowden suggested that a letter should be Sent to all licensed drivers giving them 28 days to respond, especially as the consultation carried out only received one positive comment. This indicated that there were no real concerns. Councillor Wilson suggested targeting old vehicles first but this was not possible as the borough had no powers to require them to change their vehicle.

·         Councillor Wilson informed the Panel that a visually impaired resident with a guide dog had difficulty to get an accessible taxi, was there a facility available or could we prove a number in braille for residents to contact and request an accessible vehicle. The Panel were informed that all vehicles were supposed to take dogs, this was already in our policy and further information was on the website. Councillor Wilson suggested putting the vehicle number on the front of the vehicle as well as the back but was advised that there was no requirement for this.

·         The Panel were reminded that there were 176 Hackney Carriage vehicles, of which 107 were accessible vehicles. There were no requirements for public hire vehicles to be accessible. Councillor Bowden suggested targeting the remaining 69 Hackney Carriage vehicles.

The Panel Unanimously Agreed the Officers recommendations.