A report presenting the results of the public consultation on the proposed Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy and seeking Committee approval to adopt the updated Policy.

Further to Minute 2 of the meeting held on 22 July 2025, the Committee considered a report seeking approval of the proposed Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Policy. The following documents were appended to the report:

• Appendix 1 - Draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy
• Appendix 2 - Comments Summary Document and Consultation Responses
• Appendix 3 - Proposed Changes to Hackney Carriage Driver’s Byelaws, Conditions and Penalty Points System
• Appendix 4 - Proposed Changes to Private Hire Driver’s Conditions and Penalty Points System

The report reminded the Committee that the intention of the Policy was to combine several existing policies relating to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles, drivers and private hire operators, including driver, operator and vehicle conditions, into a single, cohesive policy document.

The Licensing Applications Committee had resolved that the draft Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Licensing Policy, be published for public consultation with the hackney carriage and private hire vehicle trades for a minimum of eight weeks. The consultation was published online via the Council's Consultation Hub from 26 August 2025 to 27 October 2025. The Reading Taxi Association, Reading Private Hire Driver’s Association and operators were informed of the consultation, emails were sent to licensed drivers and details of the consultation were added to the Taxi Licensing section of the Council website and email signatures of Licensing Officers and members of Business Support. The Licensing Team also held four drop-in meetings at the Civic Offices and at All Saints church hall to engage with the taxi and private hire trades and to answer questions or help with accessing the consultation portal. Drivers were also asked to spread the word within their networks.

In total 137 different individuals made 2,178 comments on the proposed policy document via the consultation portal and emails that had been sent directly to the Licensing Team. These included a written response from the Reading Taxi Association and a number of emails from individuals and operators. The comments were collated and ordered within an excel spreadsheet according to the sections of the policy document they related to and were attached at Appendix 2 to the report.

The report explained that, having considered the consultation feedback, officers had made amendments to the Policy where it was considered appropriate to do so, bearing in mind current legislation and the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards and details of these were set out in sections 3.8 to 3.30 of the report. Appendices 3 and 4 to the report set out the detailed changes to the Hackney Carriage Driver’s Byelaws, Conditions and Penalty Points Scheme and the Private Hire Driver’s Conditions and Penalty Points Scheme respectively made following the consultation exercise.

The report explained that one of the key changes in response to the consultation was the retention of the School Transport Driver’s Licence, although School Transport Vehicles and Operators Licences regime would be discontinued and incorporated into Private Hire Vehicle and Operators Licences. Existing Licences would be updated upon renewal for vehicle  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5