Decision - Blue Handbook for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers, Vehicles and Operators Amendments

Brighton and Hove Licensing Committee (Non Licensing Act 2003 Functions) Decided 13 Oct 2022 for determination GET /api/coverage

Decision maker

Licensing Committee (Non Licensing Act 2003 Functions)

Report author

Alex Evans

Published

13 Oct 2022

Reference

6733

As published

the council's own words, unedited

To ammend the Blue Handbook for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers, Vehicles and Operators

RESOLVED: That Members agree the following changes: 1. A new condition that all tyres on a vehicle must be under 10 years old 2. The Council will no longer licence vehicles that are Category S 'write offs'. 3. Members approve various amendments regarding the licensing objectives and guidelines on Convictions to the Blue Book as outlined in Appendix 1 4. Remove the condition that Private Hire Vehicles are required to have a Fire Extinguisher 5. Agree updated Guidance with regard to First Aid as described at 3.6 6. Agree the Temporary Age Limit for Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles as described at 3.12

Parsed from the document

gpt-5.6-luna-2026-07-09 · 3276/1146 tokens · 7943ms · parsed 9 Sep 2026 11:41

Everything below was read out of a PDF by a model It is useful and it is not authoritative. The document it came from is linked in the rail, and where the two disagree the document is right.

The committee was asked to approve amendments to the Blue Handbook covering tyre age, Category S write-offs, licensing convictions guidance, fire extinguishers, first aid and the temporary age limit for wheelchair-accessible vehicles. The proposed changes were intended to improve public safety, clarify Home to School Transport procedures and respond to difficulties obtaining suitable wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

Recommendation

Agree the proposed Blue Handbook amendments, including requiring tyres to be under 10 years old, no longer licensing Category S write-off vehicles, updating licensing objectives and convictions guidance, removing the Private Hire Vehicle fire extinguisher condition, updating first-aid guidance, and extending the exceptional age limit for wheelchair-accessible vehicles to four years until 1 April 2025.

Financial impact

Any costs associated with making amendments to the Blue Book will be met from existing revenue budgets; no specific amount stated.

Ward affected

city-wide

Decision maker

Licensing Committee

Date in document

13 Oct 2022

Stakeholders named

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Hackney carriage and private hire drivers, vehicle proprietors and operatorsHome to School Transport passengers and their parents or carersPassengers with special educational needs and disabilitiesBrighton & Hove Parent and Carers CouncilBrighton & Hove Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Consultation ForumVehicle suppliers and taxi dealers

Next steps

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Members to consider and agree the proposed amendments to the Blue Handbook.
Implement the updated licensing conditions and guidance if approved.
Apply the temporary wheelchair-accessible vehicle age limit until 1 April 2025, after which the normal two-year extension will apply.
Require vehicles over 12 years old to undergo Compliance, Fitness and Emissions testing every four months.

Precedents

not built

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