Agenda item - Chair's Communications

          Uber

12.1  The Chair, Councillor O’Quinn, stated that the issue of “Uber” had been the major issue recently for the Licensing authority as their licence came up for renewal on the 4 November this year. They had only launched a few days before the license was due for renewal, not having launched beforehand due to other matters in the UK taking up their attention. A meeting was held on Friday 28 October and the Taxi Forum on the 26 October had been informed that this meeting would take place and that a decision would be made by officers, the Chair and the Lead councillors for the other 2 parties, on whether or not to renew the licence and that the decision would be made that day.

12.2  A decision was reached on that Friday to renew the Licence as there were no legal grounds to not do so. In the letter which was sent to “Uber” informing them of this decision it was underlined that they were expected to comply with their undertaking in the original licence of only using Brighton and Hove licensed taxis – this was to ensure that the rules and regulations in the Blue Book would be adhered to and that thus a level playing field would be established between Uber and Brighton and Hove licensed taxis. The licence would only run for one year and on the same terms as previously, to be reviewed at the end of the year.

12.3  Uber launched that Friday and issues soon became apparent as Uber had not been able to recruit any Brighton and Hove licensed drivers so Transport for London (TFL) drivers were brought into the city via the app. This was entirely legal but it caused some consternation amongst the B&H licensed taxi trade and it also meant that our taxi enforcement officers were unable to stop the Uber cars and check them as they don’t come under our jurisdiction.

12.4  To show their support for the enforcement officers a cross-party group of councillors, herself and Councillors Deane and Wares went out with them on Saturday 12 Nov. This had been a very enlightening experience as a number of taxi ranks were visited. It wasn’t long before word got out and the three members ended up talking to a lot of taxi drivers. There were some very interesting ideas about how to deal with the situation at Brighton station and these would be discussed further with officers. It was recommended that other councillors to go out with the enforcement team as not only was it interesting, it also boosted the morale of B & H taxi drivers to see councillors taking an interest in the taxi trade and sent out a message that the licensing authority was determined to maintain standards in our city. There had been many emails enquiries about Uber from the taxi trade and local residents, to both the Licensing Authority and councillors, the local media had also been very interested in the issue.

12.5  A private meeting had been held that Monday, 21 November, at the council and once again there had been cross-party representation. This had given those officers and councillors present an opportunity to ask exactly how the app worked and how Uber dealt with all the issues of safeguarding, WAVs etc. It was anticipated that these meetings would be held on a regular basis to discuss any issues arising. Members were also pleased that a representative from Uber would attend future taxi forum meetings.

12.6  Obviously, it was necessary to see how the situation progressed. It was hoped that over time there would be fewer TFL drivers and more B & H licensed Uber drivers who would have to abide by the Taxi Blue Book. If there were any breaches of their licence by Uber in the coming months, then we a review could be called.

12.7  Members of the Committee all expressed grave concern regarding the significantly lower standards of TfL drivers as opposed to the very high “Blue Book Standards” of Brighton and Hove taxi drivers of which the trade and the authority were justifiably proud. No one wished this to be compromised in any way.

          LGA Conference Taxi Licensing

12.8  The Chair went on to state that she had attended the LGA conference in London on Tuesday on Taxi Licensing, there had been a lot of material which had been very helpful in respect of the present situation. There were widespread issues regarding TFL licensed drivers, who had lower standards of training etc., than authorities such as Brighton and Hove.

12.9  It had been emphasised that the main responsibility of a local authority regarding taxis was safety and she had to say that she felt very proud of our city and our taxi trade as it quickly became apparent that Brighton & Hove were light years ahead of many other authorities regarding safety as all taxis had CCTV, safeguarding training was excellent and we had an accredited WAV training course and a large number of WAV vehicles. There was a move towards getting the government to draw up new legislation creating a level playing field between the new digital technology companies and the more traditional taxi companies. There was a strong desire to protect standards and the safety of passengers as otherwise there was a fear that there could be a race to the bottom. It was considered that the best means of achieving this was to get local authorities to work with each other on the issue.

12.10  RESOLVED - That the content of the Chair’s Communications be noted.