Agenda item

With reference to article 3 of this minute, the Committee received a deputation from Mr Russell McLeod, Rainbow City Taxis.

Mr McLeod advised that as a trade they were well aware that during Covid, Aberdeen’s Taxi and Private Hire fleet had diminished by approx. 25%. A large percentage of those who had left the trade seemed to have been those drivers that worked ‘’the ranks’’ which impacted on taxi numbers servicing the ranks at peak times, especially at weekends. He indicated that the trade had no intention of burying their heads in the sand, realising that they needed to be proactive in increasing the Aberdeen Fleet, and they should not forget the standards that have been built over the past 40+ years, standards that they should not just disregard, because we have a shortage of taxis at some peak times.

He intimated that their trade was not the only trade that was struggling to recruit, and at this time, they were approximately 300 drivers short, although Bus companies openly acknowledged that they had no plans to re-start their late-night buses anytime soon and certainly not before October or November 2022, at the earliest. He explained that they had been represented at many groups over the past two years and were allowed to take part in conversations that directly affected their industry, with other stakeholders in attendance. He advised that since the city started to open after Covid, it was only the taxi trade that had kept people moving after 11pm, there had been no help from bus companies, and during this time their most used night-time rank (St Nicholas Church) had not been accessible.

Mr McLeod advised that there was no signage for members of the public to direct them to find, or wait for a taxi, until most of the Spaces for People measures were lifted. Night-time Marshals have been working for the past two weeks and most of the night-time ranks were now back operational.

In terms of the report before members, Mr McLeod explained that the proposals were not acceptable to the taxi trade and  they would undo 40+ years of striving to make their industry the best it could be.

Mr McLeod made reference to the four options outlined in the report and responded as follows:-

(1)      Amended Test for Private Hire Drivers - Why would someone being asked to do the same job, be allowed to do this with a lesser test?

(2)      Abolition of the Test for Private Hire Drivers - No test at all would put their industry back many years, they had one of the best, most knowledgeable fleet in Scotland, maybe even the UK, so why would you want to erode all those years of hard work?

(3)      Amended Resit Procedures - Yes, they would welcome this, but this was muted by the Taxi and Private Hire Car Consultation Group almost three years ago; and

(4)      Driver Training Qualification - Nothing wrong with anything that improved standards, it just needed to be across the board, but there was the issue of cost?

Mr McLeod advised that in association with Aberdeen Taxis, ComCab Aberdeen and Rainbow City Taxis, they would like to propose the follow as an alternative to the proposals, although stressed that it may be prudent to point out, that allowing no test for Private Hire Drivers, would be beneficial financially

for all Taxi Offices, as this was the only way they could work, but in their view, allowing this would seriously damage the standards that they strived to achieve:-

(a)      At present, each applicant needed to achieve 75% pass rate on all four modules, they proposed that this be reduced to 60%. For obvious reasons, if it was felt that keeping the Highway Code part at 75%, then they would have no issue;

(b)      If an applicant, passed at least two modules out of four, then that applicant should only have to sit the parts that were failed on first sitting. They would propose that each applicant be allowed only two attempts to pass. After this they would need to start again; and

(c)      Test for a Private Hire Driver should remain the same as a Taxi Driver, as they were doing the same job.

Mr McLeod indicated that their proposals would help increase the number of those applying and passing the Knowledge Test, which in turn would steadily increase the Aberdeen Fleet, with all three of their offices now running Taxi Training schools to help and teach applicants how to pass the Street Knowledge Test.

The Committee thanked Mr McLeod for his deputation.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Governance which sought authority to seek public opinion on options for amending the Street Knowledge Test by way of a public consultation exercise.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      instruct the Chief Officer – Governance to hold a public consultation on the options for amending the Street Knowledge Test as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report; and

(b)      instruct the Chief Officer – Governance to report back to the Committee on 6 September 2022 with the results of the consultation exercise.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.