Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy 2023

Overview

The Council is the authority responsible for setting standards and overseeing compliance with the hackney carriage and private hire licensing regulations.  The over-riding consideration for the Council is that of public safety.

This consultation outlines a set of proposed standards and procedures to be used by the Council to process and determine applications for driver, vehicle and operator licences in Trafford.

The proposed licensing standards are based on the principles that anyone using a licensed vehicle must:

• be able to trust its driver
• be assured the vehicle is safe
• trust any operator or driver to keep their information safe
• understand the vehicle is not contributing to emissions that could harm drivers, passengers and residents of Greater Manchester (GM)

Why your views matter

The Council has reviewed and updated its policies and procedures and brought them into one Policy document.  The Policy incorporates the Minimum Licensing Standards which were adopted by the Council in 2021; and also the recommendations in the Department for Transport’s Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards published in 2020.

We are consulting a range of stakeholders as part of this process, including those that use or provide hackney carriage and private hire services in Trafford.

The sections marked in red in the consultation document relate to those elements of the Minimum Licensing Standards adopted by the Council on the 13^th October and 24^th November 2021 and do not form part of this consultation.

What happens next

Your views will be used to form our policy on the requirements for hackney carriage and private hire services for the next five years and will become effective from the 1^st December 2023 unless otherwise stated.