Taxi Driver Online

Rapists, paedophiles and people convicted of manslaughter are among those who have applied to be taxi drivers in Merseyside.

The shocking pasts of criminals who wanted a taxi licence were revealed through Freedom of Information requests submitted to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Some of the most horrifying crimes that people were convicted of before applying include two counts of rape, one of manslaughter and 16 convictions for indecent assault - including five on girls under the age of 14.

There were also 16 convictions outlined on applications for making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child.

on REJECTED applications ?

The DBS data showed more than 1,500 applications submitted to councils across Merseyside between 2015 and 2016 were made with previous convictions attached to them.

The ECHO understands that both private hire and Hackney carriage drivers across the county had concerns over who was applying for licences.

Drivers voiced their unease over people applying for licences after Knowsley Council scrapped the knowledge test of their applications.

Those who spoke out over the problem wished not to go on record but outlined that the fact drivers had no knowledge of their local area was not the only worrying factor as the lack of knowledge test was also encouraging anyone and everyone to apply.

Among the applications there was one previous conviction for causing death by dangerous driving, one for causing death by reckless driving and another for causing death by reckless or dangerous driving.

There were also 47 convictions for dangerous driving from applicants while there were 29 convictions for grievous bodily harm disclosed in the information by the DBS.

Hundreds of people with convictions for drink driving and driving while disqualified had also applied.

The figures do not show if applicants with these convictions were given licences.

At minimum, every driver is subject to a DBS check and councils have discretion over whether to disregard previous offences.

Final decisions on whether to grant people licences are made by the licensing committee.

A total of 1,504 applications in 2015/16 were revealed to have previous convictions, out of 4,661 applications in Merseyside.

Applicants in Liverpool were the most likely to have previous convictions, with 829 out of 2,262 applications revealing convictions or cautions.

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I suspect a lazy journalist just sent out a hundred or so FoIs, and is now trying to be Billy Big Bollocks with a non story.

That said I'm surprised councils are keeping a record of why they refused.

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IDFIMH

More to the point under the NEW eu data rules is it legal to do so

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Well I don't think it is if it relates to individuals.

I suppose they could keep a log of reasons, as long as they don't keep those reasons associated with each person.

But if that was the case then the question is why keep a log in the first place?

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IDFIMH