Birmingham taxi driver scandal: 114 cabbies with criminal pasts granted council licences List of 300-plus offences include GBH, possessing drugs, dangerous driving and benefit fraud
More than 110 cabbies with criminal records - including four once jailed for violence - have been granted licences by Birmingham City Council.
The Hackney Carriage and private hire operators have been allowed to work in the trade despite committing more than 300 offences, which also include possessing drugs, CS gas, dangerous driving and speeding.
A Birmingham Mail investigation has discovered 114 cabbies were granted licences by the council in the last two years after disclosing their criminal pasts.
They include one driver who served four and a half years in jail for wounding with intent to commit GBH in 2009.
Another cabbie given the green light by the council, spent three years in a young offender institution after committing the same offence in 2007.
Others have been jailed for assault, while one driver was fined £250 in 2013 after failing to carry out a booking made by a disabled person, accompanied by their guide dog.
Another who successfully won a licence collected two fines for failing to stop after an accident and driving without due care and attention in 2013.
The city council has defended its licensing committee decisions, and states the cabbies with criminal pasts represent just 1.8 per cent of the 6,250 licences granted each year.
But Mohammed Taj, from Birmingham Black Cab Drivers Association, said: “I am quite surprised that Birmingham City Council has licensed so many ex-cons, many of whom appear to have serious convictions, convictions for violence, which could potentially put the health and safety of the public at risk.
“Having a conviction for violence suggests a person has violent tendencies and you have to ask yourself whether such people should be trusted to remain in a position of trust as taxi drivers, often dealing with vulnerable members of the public.”
A Freedom of Information request revealed 114 cab crime cases and also included dates of offences and sentences, but not names.
It also did not include details of cabbies refused licences because of previous convictions.
Most of the applicants had fewer than three registered convictions, but some had long lists of crimes including one with SIXTEEN offences.
In that case, the crimes dated between 1987 and 2005 and included driving while disqualified, possessing a controlled drug, common assault and speeding.
Another cabbie was granted a licence despite dangerous driving in 2005, a case which saw them disqualified for three years and ordered to take an extended test.
But the following year they were jailed for three months after twice being charged with driving while disqualified. In 2007 they were in court for the same offence again, this time receiving a two-month jail term and being banned from the road for a year.
Despite the long list of convictions with the 114 cases, Birmingham City Council defended its policy and said it ‘’will only grant, renew or allow a person to hold a driver’s licence if it is satisfied that the person is a ‘fit and proper’ person.
“The disclosure of a criminal record or other relevant information will not necessarily disbar a person from obtaining or holding a ‘taxi’ driver’s licence unless the council considers the nature of the convictions to render them unfit.”
The council added: “Passenger safety is paramount and we make every reasonable step to reduce any risks to the public.’’
source:
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/mi ... 4-10125308
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