Report of Licensing Team Leader

1. SUMMARY

This report is to inform Members of a change to the Council’s appointed medical practitioners, who undertake the medicals for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Drivers. Due to a change in circumstances, the current authorised medical practitioners are no longer able to continue with this duty. At present the Drivers can only use their own GP to facilitate this application requirement. This report seeks Committee approval to require the Driver to go to his/her own GP or any other GP who has access to their medical history and who can offer a Group 2 Medical Examination to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) standards.

2. RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended:

2.1 That all licensed drivers be required to have a medical in line with the Group 2 Medical Standards with either their own G.P. or another Doctor, of their choice, who has access to their medical history.

2.2 That Doctor Pashley Smith and Doctor Coupe be removed as the Council’s appointed medical practitioners.

3. BACKGROUND

3.1  Taxi and private hire drivers are professional drivers carrying passengers for hire and reward. Responsibility for determining the medical requirements, to be applied to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle drivers, over and above the driver licensing requirements, rests with the local authority. Current best practice advice is contained in the booklet “Fitness to Drive”: A Guide for Health Professionals published on behalf of the DVLA by The Royal Society of Medicine Press Limited (RSM) in 2006. This recommends that the Group 2 medical standards applied by DVLA in relation to bus and lorry drivers, should also be applied by local authorities to taxi drivers. Details of the DVLA Group 2 standards can be found at www.dvla.gov.uk

3.2  The main reason for licensing Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Drivers is public safety and an important aspect of this is that the driver is medically fit.

3.3  The Group 2 Medical Standard is an examination of a driver’s medical fitness and requires an applicant to have a medical check on initial application, then every five years after the age of 45 and then annually after the age of 65. This standard is supported by a guide issued by the Drivers Medical Group, DVLA, Swansea, which is updated every 6 months, following advice from the Secretary of State’s Medical Advisory Panels.

3.4  Medicals to this standard are often very expensive as it is classed as a private arrangement between Doctor and patient and sometimes difficult to accommodate by the local surgery.

3.5 All applicants are expected to submit to a medical examination of a group 2 standard. In the past the Council has authorised specific medical practitioners for this duty. This worked very well for some time then due to ill health the authorised Doctor could no longer fulfil these duties. Drivers were left with no alternative but to use their own G.P. until the Committee appointed new practitioners.

3.6  Doctor Pashley Smith and Doctor Coupe from Kings Mill Hospital were appointed to undertake medical examinations on the Council’s behalf. However due to a change in circumstances Doctor Pashley Smith and Doctor Coupe are no longer able to provide this service and again the Drivers are left with no alternative but to use their own G.P.

3.7  Rather than appoint specific medical practitioners for this duty it is proposed that the Council promote the use of the applicants own G.P. for this requirement but allow the Driver to use any medical practitioner of his/her choice providing they offer the level of examination required and they have access to the applicants medical history.

3.8  This approach would allow the Driver to request quotes from several Doctors and then make his/her choice. It would also give greater flexibility for appointment times. This would negate the necessity to appoint medical practitioners and open up the market so that the Drivers are never in a position where they can only use their own G.P.

3.9  Should the Licensing Authority, at any time, have any concerns regarding the medical fitness of a licensed driver then the driver would be referred to his/her own G.P. for an interim medical assessment of a group 2 standard.

4. OPTIONS AVAILABLE

a.  Approve the recommendations contained within this report.

b.  Approve an amended version of the recommendations.

c.  Reject the recommendations

5. RISK ASSESSMENT OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND OPTIONS

6. ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL PRIORITIES

The recommendations made link to the Council’s Corporate Objectives of effective leadership and public safety by demonstrating a commitment to improving Health and Safety in relation to a driver’s medical fitness.

7. IMPLICATIONS

(a) Relevant Legislation:-

Under Section 57 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, the Authority may require an applicant for a drivers licence in respect of a Hackney Carriage or a Private Hire vehicle to submit such information that they may reasonably consider necessary to enable them to determine whether a licence should be granted (with or without conditions). This may include the Authority requiring the applicant to produce a certificate signed by a medical practitioner selected by the district council as to his/her fitness to drive a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle.

(b) Human Rights:-

The proposal to require an applicant to under-go a medical assessment may engage Protocol 1 article 1, that being the right to possessions, as a licence is a possession and the removal of it is the depriving of this right. However, this report does not tighten or restrict the medical examination requirements and associated policy or procedure, but rather relaxes it. Applicants will have a choice as to where to obtain their medical examination. It is therefore not anticipated that as a result of the change more applications will be rejected on medical grounds and it is consequently not anticipated that as a result of the change more applicants will be denied or refused a licence or renewal and thus Protocol 1, Article 1 should not be engaged.

(c) Equality and Diversity:-

The proposals are not discriminatory as they will effect any individual either applying to become a Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver with this Council, or renewing their existing licence.

(d) Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability:-

The proposals will have no impact on climate change and environmental sustainability.

(e) Crime and Disorder:-

The proposals support section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 which promotes the practice of partnership working to reduce crime and disorder and places a statutory duty on police and local authorities to develop and implement a strategy to tackle problems in their area. The purpose of section 17 is simple: the level of crime and its impact is influenced by the decisions and activities taken in the day-to-day operation of local bodies and organisations. The responsible authorities are required to provide a range of services in their community from policing, fire protection, planning, consumer and environmental protection, transport and highways.

(f) Budget/Resource:-

There are no budgetary or resource implications.

8. COMMENTS OF STATUTORY OFFICERS

(a) Head of Paid Service - no comments

(b) Monitoring Officer – no comments

(c) Section 151 Officer – no comments

9. CONSULTATION

Legal – no comments

Environmental Health Manager - no comments

Corporate Director – no comments

Head of Regulatory Services – no comments received

10. BACKGROUND PAPERS

None