A 12-week consultation will be held over how taxis in north and West Cumbria are licensed.
Currently, taxis in the Cumberland area still operate under licensing districts of the former Allerdale, Carlisle City and Copeland authorities, which means the rules and tariffs are different for each of them.
The consultation will ask operators and drivers if the status quo should remain or if it should be replaced with a Cumberland-wide licensing policy.
Members of the council’s regulatory committee met at Allerdale House in Workington on Friday (January 31) to approve the Cumberland Hackney Carriage and Private Hire policy 2025.
The new policy includes much reduced dress code regulations than those which were originally proposed as well as a fixed penalty scheme for breaches of vehicle licence conditions such as failure to have a valid MOT test.
Members agreed that no more than 12 points must be accumulated for the length of the licence: three years for drivers and five years for operators.
Members were told that officers had used a template points system which had been adopted by other councils across the country.
Councillor Trevor Allison (Dalston and Burgh, Conservative) said it seemed okay because at the end of the day a senior officer would have the final say on the penalty points.
And Councillor Sam Pollen (Egremont, Labour) agreed because it was about protecting drivers and added: “Looking at that it seems robust enough because there’s an appeal process.”
A licencing officer questioned why it must be a senior manager to make the decision, rather than a line manager, and he said when he first joined the council, penalty points were being thrown around like confetti which could hit drivers further down the line if they dropped a clanger.
He said they were not given out lightly and added: “It can stand scrutiny without a senior manager making a decision.”
Cllr Allison said: “The system has to be robust enough to deal with malicious complaints.”
The licensing officer said the council employed competent qualified licensing officers and Cllr Pollen said he felt made them perfectly able to make a decision.
When asked how many points he had given out or appeals there had been he said there had been two appeals and there were a total of 10 points from three cases in a two-year period.
He said the points system was a useful tool and councillor Jill Perry (Bothel and Wharrels, Green Party) said it was protection of the drivers by weeding out those who were not complying with licence conditions.
It was agreed that a senior officer could make the decision, rather than a senior manager, and that the points should last longer than one year to act as a deterrent when they agreed the policy which takes effect from April 1.
They also agreed to form a working group to look at the responses.
