Of the three people whose applications were thrown out, the first man had a criminal conviction for violent disorder committed in 2003 that will not be spent until May 2015. The second had a string of convictions, including making a false statement to obtain vehicle insurance and four cautions for making off without payment. He also had nine penalty points on his licence. The third applicant had convictions for burglary and theft, as well as assault, affray and handling stolen goods. He had a total of seven convictions comprising 14 separate counts.

Criminals refused taxi driver licences in East Herts

THREE men with criminal records who applied for taxi licences with East Herts Council have had their applications thrown out.

The applicants had failed to disclose some of their convictions on their application forms, but their shady pasts emerged after council staff applied for enhanced CRB (Criminal Record Bureau) checks from the Home Office. The Home Office had previously banned councils from carrying out enhanced checks on people wanting to become licensed taxi drivers but performed a u-turn after the potential dangers were highlighted, including by the Mercury.

East Herts leader Cllr Tony Jackson (Con, Datchworth and Aston) ordered a licensing review after a series of Mercury articles uncovered the lax checks in place.

The council’s licensing committee is due to meet today to agree changes on how it deals with licence applications from those with a criminal record.

Committee chairman Cllr Rose Cheswright (Con, Braughing) said: “We want our policies to protect the residents of East Herts. Our task and finish group has come up with a number of recommendations and it may be that most or all of these are adopted. It’s been very thorough. I attended many of the meetings and it’s been an extremely useful process. Scrutiny groups are always useful at looking at how aspects of a particular committee works.”








Of the three people whose applications were thrown out, the first man had a criminal conviction for violent disorder committed in 2003 that will not be spent until May 2015. The second had a string of convictions, including making a false statement to obtain vehicle insurance and four cautions for making off without payment. He also had nine penalty points on his licence. The third applicant had convictions for burglary and theft, as well as assault, affray and handling stolen goods. He had a total of seven convictions comprising 14 separate counts.

Councillors are expected to approve the creation of an assessment grid of offences and convictions that would standardise taxi licensing decisions tonight (March 14).

source: http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/N ... 095327.htm

Councillors are expected to approve the creation of an assessment grid of offences and convictions that would standardise taxi licensing decisions tonight (March 14).