Agenda item

The Committee considered a report detailing a proposal to require Hackney Carriages and Private Hire drivers to notify the Council of specific medical conditions which may affect their fitness to drive.

The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 set out the regulations surrounding the issuing of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Driver Licences including making provision for licensing authorities to set additional local requirements on the grounds of public safety.  In line with many other local authorities, Surrey Heath Borough Council implemented additional local conditions which now require all licensed drivers to undergo a medical examination upon application and then every 3 years subsequently, until the age of 65 and where examinations took place annually.

The Council currently required licensed drivers to obtain a DVLA Group 2 medical and DVLA guidance dictated that a driver of any class of vehicle would be fined and prosecuted if they did not tell the DVLA of a medical condition which affected their driving and were involved in an accident as a result. However any action, as per the DVLA guidance, against a taxi driver would only have the lower Group 1 standard, for any private car or motorcycle, applied and not the higher Group 2, Surrey Heath implemented, standard.

It was proposed that Surrey Heath driver conditions were amended to include a requirement that Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers would notify the Council in writing should they develop a condition or receive treatment for a notifiable medical condition, as defined by the DVLA Group 2 Standard. 

Members felt that the proposed guidance on when a licence holder must report their new medical condition was unclear. It was noted that, under some circumstances, a Licence holder may not be aware of a condition which they had developed and thereby it would be unreasonable to expect them to inform the Council in respect of the condition within its first 7 days. As a result it was agreed to amend the proposed medical standards document to reflect that drivers should only have to inform the Council of any new medical condition within 7 days of becoming aware of it.

RESOLVED that the proposed revisions to the conditions for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers as set out in paragraph 9 of the agenda report be adopted as amended.