Sussex wrote:
Sandwell Council's taxi crackdown takes illegal drivers off the roads
TAXI drivers who break the rules are being taken off the road following a crackdown by Sandwell Council’s taxi licensing enforcement team. Although the vast majority of drivers stopped pass all checks, the team’s work identifies taxis operating illegally and putting passengers at risk.
From the last nine operations, more than 50 vehicles out of around 250 stopped were found to have issues ranging from unlicensed or disqualified drivers to defective tyres, lights and suspension. On a recent operation, a car was also seized by the police and crushed for having no insurance and four defective tyres.
The team, which works with West Midlands Police and the DVSA to carry out checks on licensed vehicles and drivers across Sandwell, also carries out checks to make sure drivers know the law around carrying guide dogs – with several cases where taxis have refused to take service assistance dogs currently being investigated.
During the past 12 months, the team has helped prosecute unlicensed private hire drivers advertising their services on social media. The team has also prosecuted eight licensed drivers who have made fraudulent applications to obtain their licences.
Drivers were dealt with in court, resulting in various fines and costs, community orders and unpaid work orders being issued. On conviction, drivers have appeared before the Licensing Committee and had their licences revoked. The enforcement team also helps deliver anti-child sexual exploitation training to help drivers recognise if any young passengers are at risk.
Councillor Elaine Costigan, cabinet member for public health and protection, said: “The taxi licensing enforcement team does a fantastic job making sure anyone getting into a taxi or private hire vehicle in Sandwell is safe. “The operations they do with the police and the DVSA make sure that not only the drivers themselves are licensed and working legally, but that their vehicles are up to standard and roadworthy.
“Their work also benefits the vast majority of taxi drivers who operate within the law who can be undercut by fake taxis without any insurance, which has become more prevalent on social media. “The team’s work is all about making sure people travelling around Sandwell are safe and their achievements over the past year have had a real impact on that. “A lot of work is being done at the moment private hire operators in Sandwell who hold licences in neighbouring boroughs to see if they are breaching any current legislation.”
Sandwell has around 40 private hire companies with almost 2,000 drivers operating across the borough.
If they were Hackney Carriage operators and drivers who have been successfully prosecuted the Council should publish their names and crimes committed with the penalties that were applied,this should be recorded in the Hackney Carriage register that Councils have to keep by Law thus there is no reason why they can not release this information to the public domain.(members of the public can demand to see the register and court case prosecutions and punishments under the Law.)Councils again are not being transparent when with holding this information.
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