Taxi Driver Online

New taxi laws could let sex offenders drive cabs, critics have said


Under deregulation, a licensed driver could operate outside his area and enforcement officers in that area would not be able to check if he has been vetted.

New taxi laws have been criticised as they could open the door for ‘rapists to drive cabs’.

Critics have said the Government’s Deregulation Bill, which will be debated in the Lords next month, could permit anyone to drive a licensed vehicle without going through a council vetting process.

The proposals come as the full extent of taxi drivers’ involvement in the Rotherham child abuse scandal – in which some victims were raped in cabs after being picked up outside schools – continues to emerge.

Under deregulation, a licensed driver could operate outside his area and enforcement officers in that area would not be able to check if he has been vetted.

Rachel Griffin, director of personal safety campaign group the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, said: “The changes are going to put people across the country in real danger as they will make it much easier for someone with a past of violence and sexual offences to pose as a legitimate driver.”

Currently, anyone looking to operate as a private hire vehicle operator must obtain a licence from a council, which checks for previous criminal convictions and can refuse licences if it feels the applicant is not a ‘fit and proper person’.

Operators are able to operate only in the area in which they are licensed.

A Department of Transport spokesman said: “The Deregulation Bill will not put taxi passengers at risk and drivers will continue to have their backgrounds routinely checked. Councils will have strong tools to assess drivers’ and operators’ suitability and to carry out enforcement activity.

“The Disclosure and Barring Service [which replaced the criminal Records Bureau] will allow licensing authorities to discover any new convictions during the lifetime of a driver’s licence.”

Police estimate there are more than 1,000 sexual assaults each year involving unlicensed cab drivers in London alone.


Read more: http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/New- ... z3EJISz2ge

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

LGA: Vulnerable children at risk from taxi licensing reforms


Plans to relax taxi laws could put children at greater risk of sexual exploitation, councils are warning.

Currently, anyone using a minicab can travel safe in the knowledge that the only person legally allowed to drive the car will have been through a rigorous council vetting process, including criminal records and medical history checks.

New government proposals within the Deregulation Bill, set to return to the House of Lords next month, will mean minicab licence holders will be able to allow other people to drive their vehicle when they are off-duty without any of those checks being carried out.

The Local Government Association, which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales, is warning that this will make it easier for criminal gangs to exploit the system and use licensed vehicles to groom, rape and traffic children.

Independent reports into child sexual exploitation in both Rotherham and Rochdale found abusers used their minicabs to target vulnerable children, highlighting the need to ensure controls in this area remain as tight as possible.

Under the new proposals, someone already with a criminal background - such as for alleged sexual assaults, rapes and organised crime - could legally drive a branded vehicle, meaning they could use it to pick up passengers and target vulnerable children.

Cllr Ann Lucas OBE, Chair of the LGA's Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said:

"Recent child sex abuse cases in Rotherham and Rochdale are a stark reminder of the position of trust that people put in taxi drivers and the vulnerability of some passengers.

"There is a determination across local government that nothing like this can be allowed to happen again. That is why we remain deeply concerned about the Government's plan to relax taxi licensing laws which we believe will make it easier for criminal gangs to target vulnerable children for sexual exploitation.

"Anyone getting into a taxi or private hire vehicle should be assured that the only person allowed to drive the car has had their background thoroughly checked and vetted. The consequences for someone entering a branded vehicle where the driver has not been properly licensed and vetted by the council can be devastating. We should not be increasing the chances of that happening.

"Keeping children safe is our top priority and a responsibility councils take extremely seriously. It is imperative that the Government withdraws these plans so councils can continue to fully check everyone getting behind the wheel of a taxi or private hire vehicle to ensure vulnerable children are kept as safe as possible."

Ministers suggest the fact the taxi licensing rules already apply in London means they can be rolled-out nationwide without the public being put at risk.

However, the Metropolitan Police estimate there are more than 1,000 sexual assaults each year involving taxi drivers in London alone.

Cllr Lucas added:

"Unlicensed taxis and touting have been endemic in the capital, providing an ideal cover for dangerous sexual predators. Instead of justifying an extension to these licensing rules, the state of the system in London actually provides strong evidence as to exactly why they cannot be rolled out nationwide."

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Clearly the current system is perfection

ROTHERHAM

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All posts by this contributor are made in a strictly personal capacity

I AM PROUD TO BE A CITIZEN NOBODY'S SUBJECT http://www.republic.org.u

F88K EM ALL WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE

"Operators are able to operate only in the area in which they are licensed."

Absolute bollox. An operator can pick up and set down anywhere in the country under the current law; it is only WHERE the booking is taken that is being amended. And if every council is playing by the same set of rules and they DBS check all their drivers, then convicted sex offenders won't be driving licenced vehicles in service.

Shameful, f***ing shameful.

How can the LGA actually have the brass neck to equate the disgusting abuse by scumbags, some of them sadly licensed drivers, to the proposals in the Dereg Bill.

Talk about clutching at straws.

The main people at fault there, other than the scumbags, were in fact the gutless civil servants who wanted to keep their jobs rather than be labeled a racist for stopping girls getting raped.

The LGA and to a degree the NPHA, who today have jumped on this shameful press release, are a f***ing disgrace.

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IDFIMH