Bath Taxi Drivers Banned From Using Sat Navs

New licence conditions being introduced by the Council for taxis in Bath and North East Somerset will ban drivers from using satellite navigation.

At a Council Cabinet meeting last night, new conditions and modifications were announced for licensing taxi drivers throughout the area.

These added new rules such as vehicles must be under five years old when they are registered as a taxi and that drivers when applying must take part in a Bath & North East Somerset Council Drivers Assessment Course.

The new condition ‘Satellite or GPS Navigation systems are prohibited whilst on hire or available for hire within the boundaries of Bath & North East Somerset Council’ applies to both hackney carriages and private hire vehicles.

Cllr David Dixon, Deputy Leader of the Council, said: “It is not unreasonable to expect that a professional licensed driver should be able to have a sound knowledge of the area in which they are licensed.

“Satellite Navigation systems do not always provide the most appropriate route and are unable to take account of local transient conditions that a professional driver should be aware of.

“However it is not unreasonable for a driver that is required to undertake a journey which ends or starts outside of the licensed area to be able to use a navigation system for an unfamiliar area.

“On a recent multi agency taxi check undertaken in BANES 100% of existing taxis already using satellite navigation systems were found by VOSA inspectors to be compromising the drivers view of the road by being installed within the swept area of the windscreen.

“The systems were required to be removed by VOSA immediately as they were considered to be in contravention of construction and use regulations.”