Proposed Implementation of a Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Penalty Points Scheme

Tewkesbury Borough Council is proposing to implement a penalty points scheme for taxi and private hire licence holders. The penalty points scheme would be used to deal with minor offences and acts of non-compliance with taxi and private hire licensing requirements.

Under the proposed scheme, licence holders that are found to have committed relatively minor offences or acts of non-compliance will have a number of penalty points logged against their licensing records held by the authority.

If a licence holder then accumulates a certain number of penalty points, within a defined period, this triggers an automatic referral of the licence holder to a Licensing Sub-Committee where consideration is given to whether the individual remains a fit and proper person to hold the relevant licence.

It is believed that implementing a penalty points scheme would enable officers to deal quickly and efficiently with minor compliance issues, and help to identify those that are regularly not acting in compliance with their licensing requirements, so that more serious action can be considered against these individuals in a targeted and proportionate way.

Before making a decision about whether to implement the penalty point scheme, the Council is keen to hear from relevant stakeholders, including those that hold relevant taxi or private hire licences.