Eastleigh Borough Council Licensed Transport Forum Meeting

RESOLVED –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 November 2023 be confirmed and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

The Senior Licensing Officer presented the Action List (Agenda Item 3).

It was agreed that the Fees target/completion date moved from January 2024 to June 2024.

The Senior Licensing Officer gave an update to the Forum on the number of applications received, and enforcements carried out, from 8 November 2023 to 31 January 2024.

The Senior Licensing Officer confirmed that overall mystery shopping results were mostly good, with just a few fare charts and driver badges not on display. The team would be pulling in the vehicles in question over the next week.

The Senior Licensing Officer updated the forum that the number of applications submitted continued to grow, placing high demand on the team.

The Senior Licensing Officer said that overall drivers were finding the safeguarding training helpful.

There was further discussion around CCTV systems in vehicles,

The Licensed Transport Forum confirmed that their position in relation to CCTV in vehicles remained the same, and they did not feel they were needed at present.

It was agreed that CCTV Systems in Vehicles would become an annual item, coming to the February Licensed Transport Forums in future.

Roger Vivian confirmed that this no longer needed to be discussed at this point on the agenda.

The Senior Licensing Officer mentioned there had been some delays from drivers providing a copy of their licenses, and the share code from DVLA, and they were looking at an automated system whereby drivers could sign up and pay a yearly fee so that real time updates were provided by DVLA on their behalf.

Leigh Dodds asked that if drivers are the using DBS update service and the DVLA service that it be taken into account when fee increases are looked at.

Rick Athwal requested that the age limit for wheelchair accessible vehicles be raised from seven years, as they were expensive vehicles and also very difficult to source.

The Senior Licensing Officer mentioned that guidance now stated that the age of a car being licensed should not be restricted (as long as it falls within the current guidelines of 12 years).

There was lengthy discussion around vehicle testing at nominated stations within the Borough, plate testing, and the restrictions on age of vehicles able to be plated and whether it should be raised.

Although there was consensus that the age restriction for new vehicles to be licensed for wheelchair accessible vehicles should be removed (currently they need to be under 7 years old), the Licensing Manager, Senior Licensing Officer and Senior Chartered Legal Executive (FCILEx) agreed to meet to look at whether to remove the 7 years restriction for any new vehicles to be licensed, If agreed then the change would need be taken before the Administration Committee before it could commence.

Kev May raised concerns that Eastleigh Borough Council (EBC) licensed vehicles were unable to drop off and pick people up at the West Quay Shopping Centre entrance in Southampton, due to the closure of Portland Terrace to the public. This was due to EBC licensed vehicles being unable to use the bus lanes in Southampton.

Kev May asked the Licensing Manager to feed back to Southampton City Council on how much confusion it was causing for EBC drivers, who also worked for Southampton City Council (SCC) taxi operators, who are also licensed as operators in Eastleigh Borough.

The Licensing Manager stated that he was not involved in the decision to only allow SCC licensed vehicles to use bus lanes.

It was agreed that the Licensed Transport Forum would write to Southampton City Council raising their concerns.

It was agreed the next meeting would take place on Thursday 6 June 2024 in rooms 11/12/13 of Eastleigh House.

The Chair informed the Licensed Transport Forum that Councillor Pretty had mentioned the trade’s concerns about being charged to drop off and pick up blue badge holders at Southampton Airport when he attended the Airport Consultative Committee meeting on Friday 2 February 2024.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd agreed to speak to the relevant departments at the airport to see if there was anything that could be done to address the trade’s concerns.

The Licensed Transport Forum suggested that the Eastleigh Disability Forum could be approached to also write to the airport regarding the charges.