Powys taxi licence fees frozen this year due to pandemic

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s planning, taxi licensing and rights of way committee, councillors discussed a recommendation to keep the fees for the current financial year as they were during 2020/21.

Senior taxi licensing officer Sue Jones explained that the department had needed to adapt its practises because of the pandemic.

Ms Jones said that many taxi drivers had either left the business or were waiting for better times before renewing their licenses.

Figures in the report show the number of licences for private hire vehicles as of January 1 was 247, which is a drop of 17 from October 1, 2019.

Similarly the number of Hackney Carriage Vehicles on January 1 was 117 compared to 164 on October 1, 2019.

Ms Jones said: “Normally I would present the report earlier in the year as new fees have to be advertised, and we’d go through a period of consultation.

“But this report proposes leaving them as they are at the moment.”

Ms Jones explained that they usually base fee charges on the data from two years ago, and it would have been “likely” that they would have increased slightly this year if the pandemic had not occurred.

Consequently the fees charges based on 2020/21 data would have seen a drop.

Adapt

Ms Jones said: “Obviously 12 months ago everything changed and we had to significantly adapt the processes last year.”

She pointed out that taxis had continued to be operated throughout the pandemic and the various lockdowns.

Ms Jones added: “Applicants renewing their licence need to send their documents to us electronically, vehicle inspections have been suspended temporarily for obvious reasons in relation to reducing risk of virus transmission.

“If anyone presents a new vehicle, this is being done by video link or photographs.

“We had to temporarily stop compliance checks that we would have done throughout the year, but we will be picking those up again next month.”

A review will take place later this year in time to implement any changes to fees from April 2022.

Councillor Phil Pritchard said: “The report is logical and makes common sense.”

He moved the motion to back the officers recommendation put to a vote , and it was backed unanimously by councillors.

The fees which do not include the cost for DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks are:

• Hackney carriage private hire (1 year) £148

• Driver licence (3 years) £260

• Driver licence (1 year) £150

• Private Hire Operators (5 years) £405

• Knowledge/Competency £40.