Hartlepool taxi drivers set to win battle over vehicle age limits

The latest meeting of Hartlepool Borough Council’s licensing committee saw a new draft private hire and hackney carriage licensing policy approved by a majority vote.

It will shortly go out to consultation to allow residents and drivers to have their say before returning for a final decision.

The main changes include removing all vehicle age requirements with the current policy stating a licence will only be granted to a taxi when it is under five years old.

Additionally it will state all vehicles licensed must be Euro 6 compliant by September 1, 2025, a postponement to the previous deadline of April 1, 2025, while wheelchair accessible vehicles will have an extra year.

All vehicles are manufactured to “Euro emissions standards”, which set acceptable limits for certain types of exhaust emissions, with the standards gradually becoming more stringent.

It comes after a petition was submitted to the panel in December covering both issues.

However, Khalid Hussain, from Khalid Taxis, who proposed that petition, raised further concerns at the meeting and called for the Euro 6 deadline to be delayed further.

He raised concerns over costs and the impact of Uber being recently licensed in the town.

Council officers noted the Euro 6 standard, which became mandatory for new cars in 2015, was initially introduced into council policy in 2019 with an implementation date of April 2023 before being delayed due to Covid-19 pressures.

The council currently licences 225 private hire and hackney carriage vehicles of which just 32 are not Euro 6 compliant.