Mega-article on the Telegraph's website today
Nothing particularly revelatory to folks on here, but I'd guess it's all pretty new to the average Telegraph reader. And, obviously, it's a national newspaper instead of the usual local stuff.
Anyway, plenty of holes that could be picked here, but nothing really that hasn't been done to death on here previously, and life's too short
But, and typically, although there's not much here to differentiate HCs from PHVs, as regards the target audience it probably doesn't matter too much, and no point in sweating it.
And, again as has been obvious in the past few weeks, it probably overeggs the attraction of Wolves in terms of circumventing the safeguarding stuff etc, but in the round - and despite the headline - probably not as much as the likes of Councillor Daisy's video yesterday.
Good to see Sefton and Knowsley get a specific mention as well, though
But, of course, the usual boilerplate from Wolves, but in terms of the length of the piece and the usual formula in such articles, the boilerplate hasn't been given much space here
The scandal of the taxi drivers circumventing anti-grooming gangs safety ruleshttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/0 ... -grooming/A loophole in the licensing system makes it easy to dodge stringent checks introduced following the abuse of girls in towns like RotherhamOn a rainy day in Manchester, crowds stream out of Piccadilly station and wait for taxis beneath umbrellas. A steady procession of private-hire vehicles pull up to collect or discharge passengers, not far from the black-cab rank. But there’s something odd about the words on many of their licence plates: City of Wolverhampton Council.
For every few Manchester-plated taxis here, one licensed in Wolverhampton crawls past. Why are so many local drivers obtaining their licences from a council 75 miles away?
“Because it’s cheap, it’s easier,” says Wolverhampton-licensed taxi driver Yasar Ditta over the honking of horns and the drumbeat of Manchester rain on his roof.
Wolverhampton has a reputation among drivers for being an easier place to obtain a licence, he explains.
Others taking fares from the swarm of arrivals at the station agree. “It takes a long time here [in Manchester],” says another taxi driver with a Wolverhampton plate.
“In Manchester you have to do [an additional] driving test, all these things,” says a third. “I didn’t need to do that [to get my licence from Wolverhampton Council]. There aren’t as many obstacles. Manchester chooses to make it hard for people.”
“Out-of-area” licensing, as it’s known, is not a new phenomenon, nor is it limited to Manchester taxi drivers. For years, City of Wolverhampton Council has been receiving thousands of taxi licence applications from drivers outside the city.
Now, though, there are fears that Wolverhampton’s licensing regime is, in some cases, becoming a magnet for drivers seeking to circumvent more stringent rules imposed by their own local authorities – in areas such as Rotherham, following the grooming gangs scandal.
In the year ending March 2024, just 813 Wolverhampton licences were issued to local drivers, while a striking 20,375 went to drivers based elsewhere. The year before, the figures were similar: 778 licences for Wolverhampton residents, compared with 19,592 for those outside the city. According to government data, Wolverhampton now has almost 110 licensed taxis and private-hire vehicles per 1,000 people – far higher than London’s 12 per 1,000, Rotherham’s four, or the under 10 seen in many other areas.
In 2023, more than a third of private-hire taxi drivers in Greater Manchester were registered with Wolverhampton Council. This year, figures show that almost half of Greater Manchester’s private-hire vehicles are now licensed “out of area”.
The trend appears to be widespread. Across England, more than 11 per cent of private-hire vehicles are licensed by Wolverhampton council.
There are two types of licences required to operate taxis (including Ubers): one for the vehicle and one for the driver. Both must be obtained from the same local authority.
Omed Basir, who works for a firm renting 200 Wolverhampton-plated cars to taxi drivers across the country, says most of their business comes from Manchester drivers. Many of them seem to view obtaining a Wolverhampton taxi driver licence as quicker and easier than elsewhere – but they also need a Wolverhampton-licensed vehicle.
“More than half [of our customers] come from outside Wolverhampton,” he says. “You can drive [these cars] anywhere.”
There is nothing illegal about this. Under current laws, a taxi driver can obtain a licence from any local authority, irrespective of where they live – as long as it is the same council that has granted their vehicle licence. Wolverhampton council points out that it is, in fact, illegal for it to refuse to grant a licence on the basis of where in the country the applicant resides. It is also illegal for licensing authorities to impose a limit on the number of private-hire licences they issue, says a spokesman.
But Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, argues the system is “broken”, and warns that a lack of local accountability leaves communities “exposed”.
“This isn’t just about fairness for local drivers; it’s about public safety,” he says. Burnham adds that loopholes in the law mean “if it wasn’t Wolverhampton, it would be somewhere else”.
In towns and cities where grooming gangs have operated, fears around safety are heightened. In Greater Manchester, the towns of Rochdale, Bolton and Oldham have all been previously affected by child sexual exploitation (CSE) perpetrated by such gangs. Taxi drivers were involved in some of the cases.
In the South Yorkshire town of Rotherham, where 1,400 girls were abused between the late 1990s and mid-2010s, taxi operators and drivers were heavily implicated. Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council subsequently implemented one of the most stringent licensing regimes in the country. This includes a robust “fit and proper person” test for licence holders, along with mandatory CCTV and audio recording in licensed vehicles.
Yet some local taxi drivers are “unquestionably” obtaining licences elsewhere to avoid these onerous requirements, warns Sarah Champion, Rotherham’s Labour MP.
“The link between private-hire vehicles and child sexual exploitation has been well established by numerous reports,” she says.
“Strict licensing requirements introduced in Rotherham came about in direct response, in order to keep the public safe. That they can be so easily circumvented jeopardises public safety and damages public confidence,” says Champion.
For many drivers, Wolverhampton’s appeal seems to lie in the belief that it’s not only cheaper and quicker to obtain a licence here than elsewhere, but that there are fewer hoops to jump through. Unlike some, the council does not require drivers to undergo an additional driving test if they already hold a Category B licence, allowing them to carry up to eight passengers.
The council also says its early adoption of digital technology has enabled it to offer “a simple and efficient” online application process – though drivers are still required to attend in person for training and to undergo a “strict” assessment.
“There’s basically a lower bar for entry,” suggests Rob Berrisford, a Hackney carriage driver and chairman of the Salford Black Cab Association in Greater Manchester. “But at what cost?”
He repeats a conversation he had with one local driver who was planning to obtain a licence from Wolverhampton and whom Berrisford advised to get licensed in Salford, where he would be working. The driver replied, “Yeah, but I’ve got to do this test [in Salford], I’ve got to do X, Y and Z…”
In Wolverhampton, a one-year private-hire or black cab driver licence costs £69 – but this excludes the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which must be obtained separately. In Salford, the total licence application fee is £283.50, which includes the DBS check and test fee. In Rotherham, the cost is £226.50, also including a DBS check.
There is also a fair amount of variation in practices across different local authorities, including whether CCTV is routinely fitted in taxis, or even allowed. In Wolverhampton it is now permitted but not mandatory, after a ban (due to privacy concerns) was recently overturned in the interest of driver and passenger safety.
In Wolverhampton, a one-year private-hire or black cab driver licence costs £69 – but this excludes the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which must be obtained separately. In Salford, the total licence application fee is £283.50, which includes the DBS check and test fee. In Rotherham, the cost is £226.50, also including a DBS check.
There is also a fair amount of variation in practices across different local authorities, including whether CCTV is routinely fitted in taxis, or even allowed. In Wolverhampton it is now permitted but not mandatory, after a ban (due to privacy concerns) was recently overturned in the interest of driver and passenger safety.
And while some councils enforce daily road-worthiness checks, others don’t. For Manchester and Rotherham-licensed drivers, these are mandatory.
Since an amendment to the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records), all taxi and private-hire vehicle drivers must get an Enhanced DBS Check.
But one problem with allowing drivers to pick and choose where they get licensed is that if they do something wrong, as one councillor says, the local council where they work has no authority over them if they obtained their badge elsewhere.
“Years ago, if you had a Salford plate on your cab and you had a job in Liverpool, the police would pull you over to make sure everything was all right,” says Berrisford. “Whereas now, because Wolverhampton [plates] are everywhere, they’ve got no idea whether [a driver] should be working in that area or what [drivers] are up to.”
Residents have also voiced concerns. Cllr Ryan Bamforth, representing the Communities First party on Bolton Council, says Wolverhampton isn’t the only out-of-area council issuing licences to Bolton cab drivers. Some obtain their badges in Knowsley or Sefton in Merseyside, both at least 35 miles away. A message on Knowsley Council’s website – which charges £66 for a one-year licence – warns it is currently receiving an “exceptionally high volume” of new driver applications.
“When I ask drivers, ‘Are you registered here?’, some say, ‘Well, it’s cheaper or easier to get a licence [elsewhere]’, which is concerning,” says Bamforth.
“At the moment we’ve got no control and no say over what’s going on in this area. Our council can’t do anything about a taxi driver licensed with a different authority who starts committing offences here.”
Residents worry about safety, he says, “because they don’t know who to go to” when they want to report a taxi-related issue.
“People feel they should be able to go to their own council.”
There’s “always a risk”, too, that the system helps create a climate where grooming and sexual abuse can be perpetrated more easily, he agrees.
“People should be documented within the local authority where they’re working,” he says, “because it gives that council more control and oversight.”
It was the Deregulation Act 2015, introduced by the then Conservative government, that effectively allowed licensed private-hire vehicle drivers to operate across any licensing authority, notes Champion.
“My concerns about this were dismissed at the time and have been repeatedly ignored in the years since,” she says.
Baroness Casey also highlighted the issue in her recent independent grooming gangs report, recommending the Government take “immediate action” to stop out-of-area taxis.
“As a key part of the nighttime economy, taxis have historically been identified as a way children can be at risk of sexual exploitation,” she wrote. “[…] In some areas, especially those who have recognised problems of child sexual exploitation, local authorities go above and beyond this statutory guidance to provide additional protection for children. However, they are being hindered by a lack of stringency elsewhere in the country, and legal loopholes which mean drivers can apply for a licence anywhere in the country and then operate in another area.”
In response, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper promised that the Department for Transport would “work at pace to close loopholes in the law on taxi licensing”.
The concerns are shared in Wolverhampton as well. At a full council meeting last week, Cllr Simon Bennett, Conservative leader of the opposition, put forward an urgent motion calling for a full review of the local authority’s licensing regime.
“As far as I’m aware, it isn’t any easier [to get your licence here], the questions aren’t less difficult, the processes aren’t less stringent, but they are more streamlined, more efficient, and therefore you can get your application processed a lot quicker,” he says.
“[But with Wolverhampton-licensed] drivers operating outside of the area, we have no idea what they’re doing.”
The concern, he adds, is that “the Casey review named taxi drivers in particular as a high-risk group of people who, maybe when they’re operating outside of area, may not be behaving as they should because there’s nobody monitoring them.”
Since the grooming gangs inquiries in Rotherham and Telford, all licensing authorities in England must now undertake extensive background checks on taxi drivers, and since 2023 all must use a single database to prevent a driver who’s been refused a licence in one area on safety grounds from going elsewhere.
The Government now plans to consult on making local transport authorities responsible for licensing taxis and private-hire vehicles.
City of Wolverhampton Council, which has teams of compliance officers based in the East Midlands and the North of England, says safeguarding is its “number one priority” in taxi licensing and it welcomes any Government measures on this.
“The council does not gain financially from taxi licensing, as the fees are legally ring-fenced for spend only on related activities,” says the spokesman.
“We take enforcement responsibilities seriously and our officers are out across the country, every Friday and Saturday night, working to protect the public.”
Until the closure of the loophole allowing taxi drivers to be licensed wherever they want, however, the widespread safety concerns will doubtless remain.
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