The Service Director Culture, Housing and Regulation will provide an update of the outcome of a Home to School Transport Audit Operation undertaken in the week commencing 13th June, 2016 and in which the Chair, Councillor C Wraith MBE, took part.
Minutes:
The Service Director Culture, Housing and Regulation provided an update of the outcome of a Home to School Transport Audit Operation undertaken in the week commending 13th June, 2016 and in which the Chair, Councillor C Wraith MBE took part.
The Chair reported that this had been an extremely useful exercise that had been undertaken at the Springwell School. All vehicles had been found to be fully compliant with regard to tyres and brakes and the majority of faults found were in relation to lights. Whilst lights were a less of a problem than other types of vehicle defect, they were nevertheless potentially dangerous. It was acknowledged that bulbs could blow at any time and for this reason, drivers were being encouraged to carry spare bulb packs within their vehicles so that faults could be rectified as soon as they were identified. Most vehicles suspended for faulty lights were either rectified immediately and had the licence reinstated or were rectified within around 10 minutes, the drivers having had to leave Springwell to purchase new bulbs.
One vehicle had been found to have a ‘non-regulation’ vehicle licence plate on the rear of the vehicle and this too had been rectified within a short space of time.
The Principal Licensing Officer, on behalf of the Service Director commented that the exercise had been undertaken to follow up recommendations for the Audit inspection and involved a Licensing Enforcement Officer, officers from Audit and technical officers. She made the following comments:
· The operation had commenced at 8.00pm and lasted for two hours
· A total of 48 vehicles had been inspected of which less than a third had been suspended for various light defects
· As reported by the Chair, all vehicles had been reinstated following the rectification of the faults
· Both driver and vehicle licensing conditions were to be reviewed and it was hoped that a new condition requiring drivers to carry a spare set of bulbs would be incorporated
· The comments received from Audit have been extremely positive
In the ensuing discussion, the following matters were raised:
· The current staffing difficulties (and reasons for this) within Licensing Enforcement were noted. In response to questioning:
o Members of the Board were informed of the full range of Licensing Enforcement activities in which the Service were involved, many of which fell within the remit of the Statutory Licensing Regulatory Board.
o Particular reference was made to recent exercises undertaken with in association with the British Transport Police with regard to scrap metal. It was pleasing to note that there had been 100% compliance with the appropriate regulations
o Reference was also made to current position with regard to the disposal and recycling of vehicle oil
· Arising out of the above discussion, the Chair commented that if any Member wished see, at first hand, an enforcement exercise in operation, they should contact the Licensing Service direct
· It was pleasing to note that the serious defects identified with vehicles was no longer an issue
· The way in which inspections of vehicles was outlined and it was noted that such inspections could be undertaken at Operators home addresses
· The rationale for undertaking the exercise at Springwell School was explained which was largely because of the number of vehicles involved with Home to School Transport visiting the site and because of the ‘space’ available to undertake those inspections. It was also noted that previous enforcement exercises had been undertaken at the Greenacre site
RESOLVED that the report be received and Officers within the Licensing Service be commented for the hard work undertaken to ensure the continued and improving compliance with all Licensing Conditions and Regulations.