'Sex attack' cabbies taken off the roads
http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/4234465.Cabbies_accused_of_sex_attacks/
TWO Worcester taxi drivers have been suspended from work after separate allegations of serious sexual assault were made against them.
The cases have forced Worcester City Council chiefs to request emergency powers to temporarily suspend taxi drivers’ licences without a hearing, in cases where the police believe public safety to be at risk.
Police have confirmed a man in his 20s was charged on Tuesday with sexual assault on a female, relating to an incident in Worcester on Tuesday, January 27. He is due in court on Tuesday, April 7.
In the second case, police said another man is currently being investigated on suspicion of rape, but that no charges have been brought so far.
At a meeting of the city council’s licensing committee this week, new powers were given to the committee chairman and head of department to suspend taxi drivers if police consider it a matter of public safety.
Council lawyer Wendy Rushton told the committee there had in fact been three serious allegations against taxi drivers in recent weeks, but that after investigation only two had resulted in licences being suspended for more than a few days. No charges have been brought against the third driver.
She said: “There have been three occasions in the last month where complaints were of the nature of such that caused a great concern for public safety.”
In all three cases, she said, leading police officers wrote to the council outlining their concerns and requesting the drivers be suspended.
However, the council’s normal procedures state taxi drivers can only be suspended at specially-convened hearings at the Guildhall.
These sub-committees generally take a few days to set up, meaning the accused drivers could potentially continue driving taxis around Worcester on the days in between.
Committee chairman Councillor Andy Roberts said that in the recent cases, he had been forced to use the council’s general powers of ‘protecting public safety’ to suspend the drivers until a sub-committee could meet.
He said: “Sometimes somebody has to make a decision. I thought the risk of going slightly off constitution was less than the risk to a woman in a taxi.”
Mrs Rushton explained the council does have powers under the Local Government Act to suspend drivers in the name of public protection, but that for the sake of clarity it was better if the consitution was changed to make the powers crystal clear.
Committee member Councillor Paul Denham said: “There’s nothing more important this committee does than to protect public safety.
“This makes absolute sense in a situation where we have proper representations from the police, (and) where the head of service and the chairman can see there’s a prime facie case of the public being put at risk.”
The committee agreed the emergency powers under the condition that a sub-committee hearing would always be held “as soon as possible, and in any event within 10 working days.”
Login
Register
FAQ
