Making private hire services more accessible to disabled people

A good practice guide for Private Hire Vehicle operators and drivers

Taxi and PHV quality partnership

The issue of how a Licensing Authority might encourage compliance with measures to improve the availability of private hire services for disabled people, either by compulsion or coercion, has so far been discussed briefly, in relation to training. One example of a scheme that is currently being used successfully is that of Southampton City Council's Taxi Quality Partnership - this is the first example of a TQP being included in a Local Authority's Local Transport Plan (LTP). The partnership between the local authority and the city's taxi and private hire industries is based on a forum which meets four times a year. This forum enables open and frank discussions between the city's Licensing Panel and elected representatives of the four sectors of the industry - the Private Hire Association, the Southampton Hackney Association, the Owners' Association and the Transport & General Workers' Union. Two of the four meetings are designated for invitations to other interested parties and stakeholders (e.g. the Highways Agency). An agenda for each meeting is agreed between the two parties, offering the chance for any concerns or uncertainties to be aired. An important item of feedback from the TQP is that it has been instrumental in overcoming the 'them & us' mentality that often exists between the licensing authorities and the trades.

From the licensing authority's point of view, the forum enables new policy initiatives - such as measures to improve the availability of both taxis and PHVs to disabled people - to be introduced, discussed and implemented. For example, the LA has recently begun the process of introducing the Driving Standards Agency's Private Hire Vehicle/Taxi Driver Test; it is intended that this test will be phased in, with the ultimate objective of all taxi and private hire drivers in Southampton eventually being obliged to take this test. The forum has offered the Licensing Panel the opportunity to raise this issue with the industry, and to explain the aims and objectives of such a move - industry representatives then have the chance to consult their members on the proposals, and then respond to the panel within 28 days.

Published: 03 December 2003

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