Hackney Carriage / Private Hire Drivers and Vehicles
Licensing Officers carry out the following types of standard enforcement inspections either on their own or with fellow Licensing Officers or with Enforcement Officers from other agencies and Thames Valley Police, linked together as the NightSafe Partnership:
- Rank Inspections - to check that vehicles and drivers are complying with the conditions of their licences.
- Late Night Inspections - are carried out throughout the District, to ensure that vehicles and drivers are complying with the conditions of their licence.
- Test Purchases - are carried out throughout the District to ensure that private hire drivers are not 'plying for hire', and that any vehicle seen to be parked in a prominent position is there because it has been booked by a customer.
Private Hire Operators
- Operator Inspections - are carried out on Private Hire Operators (i.e. the business premises) to ensure that accurate records of bookings are kept.
Officers are able to offer advice to both the public and the licensees in order to rectify issues that arise. However there are further powers available to the Licensing Officers such as prosecution, suspension of licences, revocation of licences, warnings, etc.
When determining the level of action appropriate, the Licensing Officers will have regard to the our Policy relating to Warnings, Offences, Cautions and Convictions, and the Guidelines relating to the Relevance of Warnings, Offences, Cautions and Convictions.
The over-riding consideration for the Licensing Officer is to protect the public.
