Wheelchair Accessible Taxis and Hire Vehicles (WAVs) provide vital point to point passenger services for people travelling in wheelchairs.
To support WAV safety, service providers and drivers must comply with the standards set out in the Point to Point Transport (Taxis and Hire Vehicles) Regulation 2017. Significant penalties apply to those who do not comply with WAV safety standards (up to $27,500 for bodies corporate and $5500 for individuals).
The Point to Point Transport Commissioner (Commissioner) provides an additional support to WAV safety through the WAV complaint process. Service providers must report all WAV complaints via the Industry Portal as soon as they are received. Service providers must also report the actions they took in response to the report and how the complaint was resolved.
Complaints may relate to trip refusal, refusal to accept a Taxi Transport Subsidy Scheme (TTSS) payment, overcharging, loading, securing or unloading the wheelchair and/or passenger, or driver behaviour.
Service providers can receive complaints in two ways:
A. directly
B. via the Commissioner’s Industry Contact Centre.
A. Handling complaints reported directly to you, the service provider
You must:
- investigate and resolve the matter as soon as possible
- complete a ‘WAV complaint’ reporting form in the Industry Portal
- provide regular updates about your progress to the complainant.
B. Handling complaints received via the Commissioner’s Industry Contact Centre
When someone makes a WAV complaint to the Commissioner, you will be sent an email with details of the complaint. You must then:
- contact the complainant and confirm you have received the complaint
- investigate and resolve the matter as soon as possible
- complete a ‘WAV complaint’ reporting form in the Industry Portal
- provide regular updates about your progress to the complainant.
For help in completing the ‘WAV complaint’ reporting form, refer to the following step-by-step guide.
1. Log in to the Industry Portal.
2. Go to ‘Activities’ and click on the ‘WAV Complaint’ tab.
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3. The 'WAV Complaints' reporting form will open.
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You should start filling the form in as soon as you receive a WAV complaint as this will help you record all important information. Each time you enter information, you will be able to save the updated form. When the investigation is complete and the matter is resolved, you can finalise and submit the form.
4. To save information in a form that is not yet ready to submit:
a. Make sure at least one of the fields in the form marked with a red asterisk (*) is blank. These fields are mandatory fields, and a form cannot be finalised and submitted while one of them is empty.
b. Click ‘Save’.
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c. The following screen will display.
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If you click ‘OK’, the data you entered will be saved and the form will close. A confirmation message will then display.
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If you click ‘Cancel’, you will return to the form and you will be able to edit it.
5. To open a partly completed form and add more information to it:
a. Go to the ‘Customer Complaints’ tab which is part of the ‘Activities’ screen.
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b. Check that the ‘Show closed Cases’ toggle is switched to ‘Inactive’.
Select the relevant form by clicking on its ‘Case number’.
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c. Enter the new information.
If the form is still not ready to submit but you want to save the information in it, repeat Step 4 above.
If the form is complete and ready to submit, go to Step 6 below.
Note: The question ‘Was this a rank and hail hiring?’ will be displayed if you are a taxi service provider.
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Note: You can select more than one response when answering the question: ‘How was the complaint resolved?’
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Note: You can upload documents if necessary, but this is not a requirement.
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Note: You will receive a reminder email if a form remains incomplete after 14 days. If you do not respond to this email by finalising the matter and submitting the completed form, a second reminder email will be sent 14 days after the first.
6. When the investigation is complete and the complaint has been resolved, check that you have entered all necessary information (mandatory and other).
Remember that you will not be able to submit the form if a mandatory field, marked with a red asterisk (*), is blank.
If the form is ready to submit, click ‘Save’.
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7. The following screen will display.
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If you click ‘OK’, the form will close and a confirmation message will display.
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If you click ‘Cancel’, you will return to the form and you will be able to edit it.
8. To view a form that you have submitted:
a. Go to the ‘Customer Complaints’ tab which is part of the ‘Activities’ screen, and switch the ‘Show closed Cases’ toggle from ‘Inactive’ to ‘Active’.
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9. If you want to make any changes to a form that has been submitted, call the Industry Contact Centre on 131 727 between 8am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.
After Reporting
The Commissioner will review your report of the complaint and its resolution to determine if further investigation or action is needed.
If the Commissioner requires further investigation or action from you, the case will be ‘reopened’ as shown below. You should prioritise your response to the reopening.
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Reminder
Failure to report the results of your investigation and/or resolution of a WAV complaint may result in follow-up action by the Commissioner.
Further information
Related resources are available in the Learning Centre on our website and through the following
links:
If you have any questions, please visit pointtopoint.nsw.gov.au or call the Industry Contact Centre on 131 727.
