Nottingham private Hire driver blasts 'crazy' red tapeA private-hire driver who has held a British passport since 1986 has been told he needs a foreign criminal record check before he can operate in part of Notts.
Deepak Amar, of Woodthorpe, was born in India but has lived in the UK for 32 years.
He already has a private hire licence from Nottingham City Council
but recently applied for both a hackney carriage and a private hire licence from Gedling Borough Council.The 57-year-old submitted documents including a DVLA check and a Criminal Records Bureau check.
But the council said it could not be satisfied he was "a fit and proper person" to hold the licence unless he obtained a criminal background check from India.
"This is crazy," Mr Amar said. "I am shocked.
"I feel like I am being treated as a criminal. It seems crazy to ask for a reference from 32 years ago."
The council says it is standard procedure to ask for checks from anybody who has lived abroad for more than six months since the age of 18.
Kevin Nealon, the council's community protection and pollution control manager, said: "We take our public safety responsibilities very seriously and considering what we are asking in this case, I don't think we are being unreasonable."
But the practice has been branded "unsatisfactory" by the Association of Nottinghamshire Private Hire Operators and Drivers, "strange" by D&G Cars and "bureaucracy gone mad" by campaign group NO2ID.
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Notti ... story.html
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