Taxi association fumes as cabbie is bannedTHURROCK Council has moved to quash fears that checks on taxi drivers have not been carried out properly for nine years.
Thurrock Licensed Drivers Association wrote to the council last week expressing “grave concerns” about DVLA and Criminal Records Bureau checks on badge holders in the borough.
The association said checks may not have been carried out properly between 2000 and 2009, because a taxi driver, whose driving licence was suspended after a speeding conviction in 2000, was still able to renew her licence with the council.
A Thurrock Council spokesman said this was a one off case.
He said: “Between 2000 and 2009 Thurrock Council licensed about 400 taxi drivers, all of whom had both a DVLA and CRB check carried out on them.
“These records were held manually and the council recognises that, in this case, an error was made. This was addressed as soon as it was realised.”
He added: “An audit was completed to confirm the accuracy of all the other drivers’ records”
Linda Butler, the driver in question, was fined for speeding in 2000. She paid the fine and thought nothing more of it, until she was stopped for a routine check by police in 2009. Ms Butler was shocked to be told her licence was suspended as she hadn’t handed it in to get the points added.
But she had encountered no problems when she renewed her badge with Thurrock Council.
Thurrock Council decided to revoke Ms Butler’s badge and recommended she should not reapply until June 2013.
Thurrock Licensed Drivers’ Association’s John O’donaghue fumed: “The councillors’ decision to reject the reinstatement of Ms Butler’s badge is a disgrace.
“Our colleague, who received what amounts no more than a parking fine, has been deprived of a basic human right to work.”
source: http://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/news/9339395.Taxi_association_fumes_as_cabbie_is_banned/
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