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Tewkesbury licensed taxi drivers face new penalty points regime as 12-point licence review threshold begins
A new penalty points system covering taxi and private hire licence holders in Tewkesbury Borough has come into force today, Monday 28 September, changing how the council can deal with lower-level licensing breaches.
Tewkesbury Borough Council approved the scheme on 2 September following consultation with licensed drivers, private hire operators and members of the public. From today, penalty points can be recorded against licence holders instead of minor incidents necessarily being handled as isolated compliance matters.
Points will remain active for a rolling three-year period. Any driver, vehicle proprietor or private hire operator who accumulates 12 points during that period will be referred to the council’s Licensing Sub-Committee for a review of whether they remain fit and proper to hold the relevant licence.
Reaching 12 points will not automatically result in the loss of a licence. The sub-committee can consider the circumstances of each case before deciding whether suspension, revocation, another outcome or no further action is appropriate.
Licence holders will have the right to appeal points to the Licensing Team Leader. Before points can be issued, the council says there must be sufficient evidence to prove the relevant offence or breach. Written confirmation must also be sent to the affected licence holder within five working days.
Responsibility can extend beyond the person driving the vehicle. Depending on the circumstances, points may be issued to a driver, vehicle proprietor, private hire operator or a combination of those parties. Where one person is both driver and proprietor or operator, only one set of points will be issued for each identified offence or breach.
The council’s published schedule includes three points for improperly sounding a vehicle horn while collecting or waiting for a passenger. Refusing a hackney carriage fare without reasonable cause and failing to report an accident within the required period can each attract four points.
Smoking, or allowing smoking, in a licensed vehicle and carrying more passengers than the vehicle is licensed for can each attract six points. The number of points assigned depends on the nature and seriousness of the alleged breach under the council’s schedule.
The penalty points regime does not replace Tewkesbury Borough Council’s existing enforcement powers. Officers will continue to consider each case individually, and formal action can still be taken where an offence or breach warrants a stronger response.
The policy also states that points may be imposed regardless of where the non-compliance occurred geographically. Tewkesbury-licensed drivers and operators cannot therefore assume that conduct outside the borough falls outside the scope of the scheme.
The council says the system is intended to provide officers with a faster and more proportionate way to deal with minor non-compliance, while identifying licence holders who repeatedly breach licensing requirements. Similar arrangements already operate in neighbouring licensing areas, including Gloucester and Cheltenham.
