Herefordshire’s long-standing wrangles over taxi licensing have finally been resolved with a new deal agreed between drivers and the county council, which operates the licensing system locally.

At a full council meeting today (October 13), Herefordshire councillors voted unanimously to adopt a new taxi and private hire vehicle policy which will run until 2028, following changes in national guidelines on licensing made in 2020.

Hereford Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Association chairman John Jones, who has campaigned during this period to have drivers’ concerns taken into account, welcomed the move.

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The association’s members had unanimously backed the new policy earlier this week, following “quite a lot of meetings” with council officials, he said.

“We now have a good set of conditions that are fair on taxi drivers.”

Mr Jones has already retired from the trade, “but I stopped in just to see this through”, he added.

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Previous sticking points had included a proposed “Knowledge”-style test of the county’s routes and tight age limits on vehicles.

In March last year around 50 taxi drivers protested at a council meeting where an earlier draft of the licensing policy was being debated, before staging a rally through Hereford in their vehicles.

The drivers then threatened to call a strike last New Year when they felt their concerns still hadn't been addressed.

Herefordshire Council licenses around 900 owners of taxis and private-hire vehicles as well as so-called dual drivers of both classes. The new policy strengthens tests on drivers’ suitability and their safeguarding responsibilities.

“It also includes consideration for environmental impacts, such as encouraging as many different fuel types as possible, including small two-seat electric and hybrid vehicles,” according to the council’s cabinet member for roads and regulatory services Coun Barry Durkin, who latterly oversaw the process.

The new measures will be implemented in two months’ time, “to allow time for existing licence holders to achieve compliance”, he added.

Liberal Democrats group leader Coun Terry James, a former leader of the council, welcomed the breakthrough, saying: “We’ve got to where we should have been a long time ago.”