Chelmsford City Council under fire over taxi driver safety concernsCHELMSFORD City Council could be putting the public at risk by not properly checking the criminal records of all taxi drivers.
There is concern foreign nationals can work in the city on student visas and are being issued taxi licences by the authority without the usual checks.
Normally, would-be drivers have to provide criminal record checks, a driving licence, pass a "knowledge" test, and to not have any driving convictions.
Ian Vernon, who as chairman of the Chelmsford Taxi Association has campaigned for stricter knowledge tests for drivers, said: "As a lot of countries don't have CRB checks they are unable to run the same procedures as we do in this country.
"Therefore there's a massive safety issue here. There's not a proper criminal check done, just a letter from a court in the person's country of origin.
"The council need better procedures to their pre-licensing conditions to ensure members of the public have better protection.
"The public have a right to know who is driving them around and without the proper checks people with criminal records have been operating in the city."
There are further concerns many from outside the EU have no knowledge of the local area, are overcharging passengers, refusing short journeys and do not follow the rules and regulations.
British-born taxi drivers claims there are not the same checks done on National Insurance or tax reference numbers and that some often work full-time despite only holding a student work visa.
Taxi drivers on student visas are only allowed to work 20 hours a week.
In the past 12 months, the council has received six complaints from the general public about taxis overcharging, one of which was found to be justified.
Throughout the year regulatory and licensing hearings are held in private, behind closed doors, with the public excluded from knowing the circumstances.
In these hearings a committee made of councillors decide if drivers who have broken the rules should have their licences suspended.
Another hackney carriage driver, who did not want to be named, told the Chronicle he brought the licensing problem to the attention of councillors by writing 56 letters to nearly every member, with just six replies.
"It's wrong the council are not interested," he said.
"When I raised it with the council they told me to tell the UK Visas and Immigration, which I did, and that it wasn't their problem.
"They don't check the status of drivers before working in this country.
"When taxis are bought or sold people are turning up with big bags of cash. How are they getting £30,000 in cash?"
There are currently 482 licensed drivers in Chelmsford and the council says it checks they pass the "fit and proper person" test before issuing a licence.
But according to the council there is no formal definition as to what constitutes a "fit and proper" person.
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http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/s-drivi ... z3nxaTmiF3
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