To receive any questions or petitions from the public, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14.  The deadline for this meeting is no later than 24 hours prior to the commencement of the meeting.

The Chairman reported that three public questions had been received.

Question 1 - received from Mark Higgins:

I object to any changes to vehicle type and ask the council to withdraw its proposals for 100% WAV taxis. Taxis (Public Hire) provide a crucial role in transporting the public.

For years Shropshire council have addressed the potential for anti-social behaviour and safe passage for the public by providing taxi rank marshals to assist with the many revellers who are a vital part of Oswestry’s night time economy and are transported efficiently and safely from the taxi rank.

In Oswestry we don’t have Uber or indeed any app booking taxis or private hire and the public use the town centre taxi rank in great numbers.

Operating predominantly private hire vehicles in Oswestry would have a big impact on policing and anti-social behaviour increase in drunk driving & un licenced activities as Private hire cannot lawfully provide a here and now booking.

The cost of replacing saloon taxis to wheelchair accessible taxis would not be financially viable.

Has Shropshire council consulted with the Police informing them of Mandy Beever’s  suggestion that if a WAV is too costly, taxis could simply be replaced with Private Hire vehicles?

The response as follows was read out by the Chairman:

Shropshire Council sent West Mercia Police details of both consultations inviting them to respond.  No response was received.

Question 2 - received from Richard Price on behalf of himself and Shrewsbury Station Taxis:

Although we find most of the policy workable, regarding appendix B 3b.33 (age Limits) of the proposed policy, we would like to raise the point that this policy does not provide a lifeline expectancy of euro 6 wheelchair accessible vehicles beyond the end of the policy in march 2024, therefore operators are going to find it impossible to invest the £20,000 to £60,000 required for one of these vehicles without knowing how long beyond 2024 we will be able to continue to use them.

Therefore we would like to suggest that added to this policy is that post 1st September 2016 euro 6 vehicles will continue to have their licences renewed for 10 years from date of original registration, we don’t consider this to be an unreasonable request considering Transport for London who operates within an ultra-low emission zone is allowing re licensing of euro 6 vehicles until 2030 or until they are 12 years old.

The response as follows was read out by the Chairman:

It is being proposed today that an additional paragraph should be added to the Policy document to provide reassurance to the trade in regard to the Councils position on emission/age restrictions namely that:

Part 3b.33, 3c.26, 3d.34, Emissions/Age Restrictions

A note to be added to the bottom of the emission/age restriction chart on each page as follows:

NB: The chart above provides information for the licensing of vehicles up to 31 March 2024 and the maximum age for a vehicle to remain licensed.  The Council does not currently intend to make any changes in the future to reduce the maximum age for a vehicle to remain licensed where a vehicle had already been licensed before 31 March 2024.  However, the Policy will be subject to continuous evaluation and, if necessary, can be formally reviewed at any time.

Question 3 - received from Nicholas Cox:

I wish to strongly protest against the highly discriminatory condition in the new policy that will force all hackneys to become wheelchair accessible.

An all wheelchair policy is not the best policy for the estimated 76000 disabled people of Shropshire, only of which 8 to 10% use wheelchairs. Of these estimated 7000 wheelchair users only about 20% are reliant on their wheelchairs, the remaining 80% do not use their chairs all the time. That means that of the estimated 76000 disabled people in Shropshire only about 1400 would possibly benefit from such a policy the other 74600 would be discriminated against.  The vast majority of wheelchair users prefer to transfer to the front seat of a saloon car where they can sit comfortably in a supportive seat, wear a self-tensioning seat belt, and have the protection against whiplash injuries in case of an accident, all saloon cars have head rests and airbags. Very few wheelchairs have head supports, and none have self-tensioning seat belts and airbags.

I do hundreds of wheelchair transports a year, all regular customers, who check that I am in my saloon car and NOT in my minibus, before booking a ride. The simple reason being that they cannot transfer to anything higher than a normal passenger car, and that they do not want to sit in the back of a WAV strapped in view of the public "Like a monkey in a cage" as two of them have described such transport to me.

The vast majority of wheelchairs today are simply not safe to be transported in a vehicle with the passenger seated in the chair. They do not have any anchor points to secure them in a vehicle. Wheelchairs that are deemed safe to transport their users while seated in the chair have 4 special anchor points welded to the chair during manufacture, The anchor points are painted yellow or orange. If the manufacturer has not fitted these anchor points to the chair it is because the chair is not considered to be safe to transported with a passenger seated in it. I do not fancy having a heavy passenger hitting me in the back of the head like an Exocet missile because his unsuitable chair has disintegrated on impact. Highly dangerous for both passenger and driver.

Wheelchair users invariably arrange transport before making a journey. It is just a fact of life for them. When they phone to book a journey from home to town they specify they need a WAV. The only WAV available, if this new policy is voted in, will be a Hackney, and there is no law in the land that can accuse a hackney driver of discrimination because he refuses to drive 5 unpaid miles to pick up a wheelchair. He will be perfectly within his rights to suggest the wheelchair user gets himself to the nearest taxi rank, which are all in the town centre which is where he wants to go in the first place. Hackneys are either met at taxi ranks or flagged down in the street. Mandy Beever says that Hackneys should look at how they run their business model, and not to operate as private higher. How is a wheelchair user meant to get a WAV other than phoning for want, in other words a private hire job. Mandy Beever does not want hackneys to do the job because it is private hire. That is a bit of a conundrum I will struggle to get my head around.

In a meeting I had yesterday with Mandy Beever she was trying to explain to me why she must make all hackneys WAV. She says that the 2010 equality act means that any changes to a policy must raise the standards of protection given to the disabled, not reduce it. Her new policy of a WAV only hackney fleet is doing the exact opposite of what is required by law. Shrewsbury zone policy of WAV only hackney was always most discriminatory against the vast majority of the 5 zones, by getting rid of the mixed fleet policy of the other 4 zones she is bringing them all down the lower standards of equality that Shrewsbury has at the moment. It is nothing more than discrimination against most of Shropshire's disabled. Illegal.

I asked Mandy Beever to confirm that she does not believe a WAV only policy is discriminatory and she wouldn't, which can only lead me to believe that she is slowly realising that it is.

Governments best practice guidelines, that new task and finish groups recommendations, the LGO, and many more eminent people ALL say that a WAV only Hackney policy discriminates against the vast majority of disabled people. Why does Mandy Beever think she knows better than them?

The response as follows was read out by the Chairman:

Shropshire Council licence Hackney Carriages and Private Hire Vehicles together they form the Council’s fleet of licenced vehicles. 

The Governments Integrated Transport Strategy stated ‘a desire to see a much greater proportion of Wheelchair Accessible vehicles, particularly in non-urban areas, over the next ten years’.  This has been further recommended in the Governments Response published in February 2019 (Report of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, Moving Britain Ahead).

Officers of the Council give consideration to all relevant publications when revising policy documents e.g. best practice guidance, the Task and Finish Groups recommendations, documents published by the Local Government Association and The Department for Transport.