West Northamptonshire Council is consulting on the first revision of the hackney carriage and private hire policy that came into force on 1 April 2024. It opened on 12 October and closes at midnight on Sunday 6 December. It covers drivers, vehicles and operators licensed by this council, in Northampton, Daventry and South Northamptonshire.
The consultation page links to the draft policy and a summary of the main changes. The current policy stays in force until the licensing committee has considered the replies and adopted a replacement.
Councillor Andrew Last, the cabinet member for HR, corporate and regulatory services, told the Northampton Chronicle that the proposals follow changes in the law, lessons from the council’s licensing work, and feedback from the trade. The council’s own summary says drivers, proprietors and operators asked for a simpler policy.
English, medicals and checks
The draft adds an approved English test to the list of requirements for a driver licence. The list in the policy now in force runs through the driving assessment, the medical, the knowledge test, safeguarding training and vulnerability training. The council’s tests and training page already tells every new applicant to take Pearson’s spoken English test in one sitting and score at least 43, which the council treats as level B1. The draft does not set a different pass mark.
Medicals stay at the DVLA Group 2 standard used for lorry and bus drivers. A certificate would be required with the first application and again at renewal. Yearly medicals would start at 65. The current policy starts them at 60. A driver whose condition changes in a way that may affect their driving would have 7 days to tell the council in writing. The current rule is 14 days.
An enhanced DBS check, including both barred lists, would have to go through the council’s approved provider. The certificate would have to be no more than a month old, and the applicant would have to show an active DBS update service subscription. Under the current policy that subscription is required once the licence has been granted. A basic DBS for a vehicle licence would also cover partners, and the directors and company secretary, unless that person already holds a West Northamptonshire driver licence.
On renewal, a safeguarding certificate could be up to 4 months old. The current policy says 3 months. The tests page already treats a safeguarding certificate as valid for 4 months. Drivers would still need a fresh certificate every 3 years.
The draft adds driving-licence offences, and any fine attached to a conviction, caution or penalty, to what a driver must declare on the application form and, if something new happens, within 72 hours. A change of address, name, operator or contact details would have to be notified within 7 days. The current rule is 72 hours.
Kits, signs and damaged vehicles
The council’s table of changes says the requirement for a first-aid kit and a fire extinguisher is removed. The summary of changes does not mention either item. The policy in force requires a 1kg dry-powder extinguisher or a 2-litre AFFF extinguisher approved to BS EN3:1996, with the licence number painted on it, and a first-aid kit marked with the licence number. In the draft, the private hire rules no longer set those kits out. The hackney carriage list for all vehicles still contains two unfinished sentences, one about a 1kg dry-powder extinguisher or a 2-litre extinguisher, and one about a first-aid kit. Both stop mid-sentence.
Private hire door signs would be supplied by the council and would show the licence number. One sentence says an adhesive sign must be fixed to both rear doors. The next says the supplied sign goes on the front or rear doors. The change table says the council logo is replaced with the words “Licensed by West Northamptonshire Council”. That wording is not in the signs section. A private hire vehicle would not be allowed to carry a sign containing “Taxi” or “Cab”, singular or plural, or a word of similar meaning. The current private hire sign is adhesive or magnetic, on both front doors, at least 60cm wide by 19cm high, with the council logo and the words “This Vehicle Must be Prebooked”.
Private hire tests, and the MOT certificate that must be less than four weeks old, would have to come from a council-approved testing station in the council area. The current rule allows any MOT station in the area.
A written-off private hire vehicle would still be refused, with one proposed exception. The council would consider a Category N write-off, where the recorded damage was not structural, if the owner supplies documents for the damage and the repairs. It could also send the vehicle to one of its testing stations. A hackney carriage that an insurer has written off would still be refused. The draft gives hackneys no Category N exception.
Euro 6 remains the standard for a vehicle licensed for the first time, and for an existing licensed vehicle whose licence is allowed to lapse. There is no grace period. The draft says the council will aim to review that approach within five years. The current policy says three. The summary says a wider review of emission standards was looked at and left, while vehicle rules from the former councils are still in transition and the government has yet to adopt a Euro 7 standard.
Hackney zones
Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire would remain separate hackney zones. The draft says the need for those zones will be reviewed five years after this policy was introduced. The current policy says three years. The summary says a full zone review was considered and not taken forward for the same reason as the emissions review: the old district vehicle rules are still being phased in.
There would be no limit on the number of hackney carriages in any of the three zones. The draft’s aim is a wheelchair-accessible hackney fleet. An existing licensed hackney would keep grandfather rights, and a new grant would have to be wheelchair accessible. Northampton already licences only wheelchair-accessible hackneys. Daventry and South Northamptonshire currently licence saloon hackneys as well. The Daventry paragraph keeps non-wheelchair vehicles for a transitional period tied to those grandfather rights. The South Northamptonshire paragraph says only wheelchair-accessible hackneys will be licensed, and it does not repeat the transitional wording.
How to respond
Comments can be sent on the form on the consultation page, by email to licensing@westnorthants.gov.uk, or by post to the Licensing Team, West Northamptonshire Council, One Angel Square (Service Yard), Angel Street, Northampton, NN1 1ED. The council asks for the page or section being commented on. A reply after midnight on 6 December will not be accepted. The responses and the draft then go to the licensing committee.