Agenda item

Members were reminded that in August 2001, the Licensing Committee approved a policy that set out the minimum interior seating dimensions that must be met by all prospective Private Hire or Hackney Carriage vehicles.  Since 2001 a number of vehicle brands and models available to current and prospective drivers had increased, with officers on occasion having to search the internet to find images of vehicle models that had not been licensed previously.  Currently should a prospective licence holder present for licensing, a vehicle which was of a make and model that Licensing Officers were unfamiliar with, Officers had to take measurements of the interior dimensions to ascertain the vehicle’s suitability.

Members were informed that using an industry-wide recognised method of classifying passenger vehicle into categories and then choosing the groups that are suitable to be licensed, allowed for clear and concise boundaries to be drawn.  It would also allow the Licensing Office to be kept informed with changes that were being made to different vehicle manufacturers products.

Members were informed that  the list of vehicles in the appendix to the report were considered to be suitable to be licensed as Private Hire and Hackney Carriage vehicles. In the ensuing discussion, Members highlighted the importance of making sure the revised minimum size of vehicles was available to all and Officers confirmed that the information would be available on the website and also included in the information pack given to all prospective drivers.

Recommendation to Council – That the Council approve the  implementation of a new policy in respect of the minimum sizes to be met by

Hackney Carriage and Private Hire saloon vehicles in that –

(a)  Any vehicle that is to be licensed by Slough Borough Council must be in the Euro NCAP or European classification groups as attached in Appendix A.

(b)  Only those vehicles that fall into the following Euro NCAP categories -  Large family, Executive, Small MPV*, Large MPV, Large Off-Road 4x4 (European Commission classification D, E, F M and J).

(c)  In respect of the compact MPV categories, these vehicles shall only be licensed to carry four passengers.

(d)  Only the Large Off-Road 4x4 vehicles shall be licensed in the J segment.

(e)  Any vehicle that is presented for licensing by Slough Borough Council that does not meet these minimum standards, will not be licensed.