Sefton is getting new taxi drivers all revved up

But why is the borough in its ‘highest demand’?

Sefton Council is becoming ‘attractive’ to private hire drivers amid a surge in applications for licences registered in the borough, according to the head of licensing in Sefton.

The remarks were made by licensing chief Mark Toohey at a meeting of Sefton’s licensing committee tonight, where an annual review of taxi licensing figures was brought before councillors.

‘This is the highest demand for the service we‘ve ever had’ Toohey said, ‘we’re seeing application numbers of about 50 new drivers week’ with a dramatic increase in knowledge tests, which drivers have to take as part of the licensing process.

Half of those getting new licences are from outside the Liverpool city region, according to Toohey, with a large increase of applications in the past year leading the council to hire more staff and, as Toohey acknowledged with a smile, leaving the licensing service with a ‘fairly healthy’ reserve fund.

In recent years, the council had faced a ‘massive backlog’ in taxi applications, in part driving some applicants to authorities such as Wolverhampton to get licensed. But now, the flow of traffic appears to have reversed, with drivers from other Merseyside boroughs and further afield heading to the more ‘efficient’ Sefton instead.

The annual report underlined the scale of the change. The number of live taxi licences in Sefton stood at nearly 13,000 at the start of April this year, up from nearly 11,000 a year earlier. Private hire driver licences increased from 5,500 to nearly 7,000 over the same period, while the number of licensed private hire vehicles rose by nearly 1,000.

But why has the borough become more popular?

‘It’s not a price thing,’ Toohey told councillors, saying Sefton’s fees were broadly in line with neighbouring authorities. The increase had taken the council somewhat by surprise, he added, although he suggested the speed at which applications were now being processed could be a factor.

Cllr Clare Carragher referred to a perception that it is ‘easy to get a taxi licence in Sefton’ but said the figures did not support that view. ‘Clearly by the pass rate it’s not,’ she said, pointing to the annual pass rate for the authority’s knowledge test, which stands at around 58%, saying it was an achievement the extent to which the ‘massive backlog’ had been reversed.

The report shows that more than 4,100 knowledge tests were offered during the year, with over 1,300 either failed or voided and almost 1,000 applicants failing to attend their booked appointment.

Carragher also questioned the high number of no-shows and asked whether Sefton was left to bear the cost of void or repeated attempts.

Toohey explained that an initial test is included within the £50 application fee but applicants are charged £10 for each retest, leading chair Cllr John Kelly to note ‘We’ve actually made a few bob out of that then, haven’t we?’.

The report also suggests the licensing process is far from a rubber stamp. During the year, an officer panel considered nearly 240 appeals from new applicants, granting 150 and refusing 91, primarily because of convictions linked to drugs and violence. Another 50 cases involving existing licence holders resulted in 25 revocations and five suspensions.

Toohey also spoke of over 300 temporary ‘stop notices’ being issued because drivers did not have the required signage attached to the side of their vehicles, describing it as ‘a bit of an epidemic of drivers forgetting’ to put them on.

Cllr Carla Thomas asked for a breakdown of revocations and refusals made on medical grounds, which Toohey said would be provided to committee members.

The meeting also touched on the long running issue of cross-border private hire driving, where drivers licensed by one authority are free to work elsewhere. In Merseyside, it has at times caused confusion and frustration, particularly over the number of Wolverhampton-plated vehicles operating in the area.

The licensing system has developed over many years through national taxi licensing laws, which allow private hire drivers, vehicles and operators licensed by one council to undertake pre-booked journeys outside their home area. Changes introduced by the Deregulation Act 2015 made it easier for operators to subcontract bookings across local authority boundaries, creating a much more national market for private hire licensing.

That has led some drivers to seek licences from authorities perceived as processing applications more quickly, even if they intend to work elsewhere. In recent years, Sefton itself lost drivers to other licensing authorities during application backlogs. Now, according to council officers, the trend appears to have reversed.

Toohey noted that Andy Burnham had been vocal in calling for changes that would require drivers to work only in the area where they are licensed, while he also referred to previous unsuccessful attempts to introduce similar restrictions in Knowsley.

It’s not possible to refuse to look at applications, Toohey explained: ‘You can’t put limits on private hire‘.

before you call a cab …

We love you getting involved in the Monitor any way you can. Have you got ideas for stories we should be looking at? Are you interested in becoming a contributor? Or are you just here for a nose? However you get involved, we’re grateful for you being a part of what we’re doing here.

You can always email us in confidence at themerseymonitor@outlook.com or call 07442 402 023.

If you’re not signed up as a member, please do, it’s completely free and you’ll receive one or two emails a week. It also means you can then comment on the site, and we’d like to encourage discussion, so don’t be shy. 

If you’d like to make a donation, your support could help keep the Monitor sustainable. We don’t - and won’t - have wealthy backers or thirsty shareholders. You won’t find annoying paywalls either cajoling you to stump up to read half an article. We are truly and only reader funded and we’d love your help. Any donation is welcome, and you can do that by clicking here: https://www.merseymonitor.com/#/portal/support

You can also set up a regular donation here: Donate

We have set the donation pages so that we aren’t notified of who has donated, this is to help safeguard editorial independence, but also means we can’t individually thank you for your contributions to help keep the Monitor sustainable. Please know your support means a lot, we appreciate you helping sustain local public interest journalism on Merseyside.