Taxi Driver Online

Should taxi drivers pay for their own criminal checks?

COUNCILLORS are set to knock back a request from Ayrshire's top cop to make taxi drivers pay for their own criminal checks.

The NAC licensing board are set to refuse a request from divisional commander Bill Fitzpatrick to get cabbies to pay for their own Disclosure checks when applying for a licence, which would cost them an extra £20.

In a plea letter to the council he explained that many taxi and private hire drivers were withholding information when they were asked to list all their criminal convictions with their licence applications - meaning extra work for police staff.

He said: "These omissions mean that staff from Strathclyde Police Licensing Department are having to contact applicants and request that they amend their application."

However, assistant chief executive Ian T Mackay said that policy already had a "mandatory duty" to carry out the background checks on taxi driver applicants.

Urging councillors to reject the proposal, he said: "The checks presently being carried out by the police under their statutory duties would still be carried out albeit a fee would now be being paid to the police for this service."