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| Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31814 |
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| Author: | StuartW [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 4:37 am ] |
| Post subject: | Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
We have different process up here in Scotland, but is this how the DBS system usually works? I thought the councils would get info on applicants directly from the DBS, and the operator and the type of company mentioned in the article (Onfido) wouldn't be involved: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check The vetting process for thousands of drivers offering the under-fire service in London has been declared invalid Andrew Gilligan September 3 2017, 12:01am, The Sunday Times Thousands of Uber drivers are to be made to undergo new criminal record checks after regulators rejected the vetting process used by the cab-hailing giant. Transport for London (TfL), which licenses taxis in the capital, is writing to at least 13,000 minicab drivers — more than a tenth of the total — telling them their background checks are no longer valid. The drivers will be given 28 days to make new applications for vetting or be taken off the road, TfL said. They work for several companies but the largest number are Uber drivers. The move comes after The Sunday Times revealed that police had accused Uber of failing to report sex attacks on passengers by its drivers and of “allowing situations to develop that clearly affect the safety and security of the public”. Last week it emerged the man charged with the Buckingham Palace terror attack is an Uber driver. Mohiussunnath Chowdhury allegedly attacked three police officers with a samurai sword while shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is great). In December 2015 a former Uber driver, Muhiddin Mire, tried to behead a stranger in a London Tube station, yelling: “This is for my Syrian brothers.” Steve ********, of the private-hire drivers’ branch of the GMB union, said Uber had put the incomes of drivers at risk by using an inadequate vetting process. “Because of this, there is a chance that some drivers have slipped through the net who will bring a bad name to all the others,” he said. “That is contemptible.” All would-be minicab drivers in London must be checked against information held by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), a government agency, for criminal records, unsuitability to work with children or police warnings. Uber worked with a London-based company called Onfido to carry out the checks. Uber referred drivers to Onfido, which would check with the DBS and then issue TfL with a certificate stating the facts about the driver’s background. Onfido describes Uber as a “client”. TfL accepted these certificates until this year. However, it said this weekend that “following a recent review of policy” it would no longer accept them from Onfido or any other “third-party provider” but only its own contractor. TfL declined to describe its concerns about Onfido and other providers. Onfido denied any deficiencies in its vetting process and said TfL simply wanted to maintain an exclusive contract with its own provider, GBGroup. “The only concern expressed to us is about the exclusivity of the contract,” it said. Uber said it did not itself carry out or process any background checks. “Uber does not require potential drivers to use a specific provider and does not have a say in who gets licensed,” it said. “It is ultimately up to the regulator to review the application and DBS check and decide who is granted a licence.” Uber’s licence to operate in London, originally issued for five years, was renewed in May for only four months after Inspector Neil Billany, head of the Metropolitan police’s taxi unit, expressed “significant concern” that the company seemed to be “deciding what [crimes] to report”, telling police only about “less serious matters” that would be “less damaging to [its] reputation”. Its licence expires at the end of this month. Billany said Uber had failed to report at least six sexual assaults on passengers carried out by its drivers. One attacker was able to molest a second female passenger before being taken off the road. Uber said it was up to individuals to decide whether to report such incidents. Uber is trying to stabilise under a new chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, after boardroom battles, allegations of sexual harassment, invasion of privacy and bribery, and the forced resignation of co-founder Travis Kalanick. Caroline Pidgeon, deputy chairwoman of the London assembly’s transport committee, said: “The questions for Uber keep piling up. Its licence should not be even considered for renewal until strict employment and road safety conditions are firmly in place to ensure it behaves like a responsible company.” |
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| Author: | MR T [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 10:44 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
To many people from abroad do not provide the same standard of information as British drivers do.. because their own country can not supply it... If they can not then they should not be licenced.IMO |
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| Author: | edders23 [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:27 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
MR T wrote: To many people from abroad do not provide the same standard of information as British drivers do.. because their own country can not supply it... If they can not then they should not be licenced.IMO  or not permitted to have a license unless they have 3 years clear of any convictions in the uk |
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| Author: | Midlife martyr [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 12:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
Quote: =D> or not permitted to have a license unless they have 3 years clear of any convictions in the uk Better but in my opinion not sufficient because if it's not possible to know what they got up to before they got here you could still be licensing someone who has a serious criminal record, I know this maybe unfair to immigrants who are generally of good character but if in doubt public safety should be paramount. |
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| Author: | grandad [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 3:00 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
Around here, the Council process the application on behalf of the driver and the report is sent to the driver who then has to take it to the Council for them to see that everything is ok. If, like me, drivers sign up to the annual update scheme then the Council can check it for changes when they need to. |
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| Author: | Sussex [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 5:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
StuartW wrote: We have different process up here in Scotland, but is this how the DBS system usually works? I thought the councils would get info on applicants directly from the DBS, and the operator and the type of company mentioned in the article (Onfido) wouldn't be involved: I'm frankly stunned that TfL have used a third party's checker, and have relied on that information. Have that not learnt anything about the way Uber work? ](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
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| Author: | Sussex [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 5:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
StuartW wrote: Uber worked with a London-based company called Onfido to carry out the checks. Uber referred drivers to Onfido, which would check with the DBS and then issue TfL with a certificate stating the facts about the driver’s background. Onfido describes Uber as a “client”. TfL accepted these certificates until this year. However, it said this weekend that “following a recent review of policy” it would no longer accept them from Onfido or any other “third-party provider” but only its own contractor. TfL declined to describe its concerns about Onfido and other providers. Heads should roll over this at TfL. But I bet they don't. 
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| Author: | Sussex [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 5:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
MR T wrote: To many people from abroad do not provide the same standard of information as British drivers do.. because their own country can not supply it... If they can not then they should not be licenced.IMO To a degree yes. However if they have lived here for more than 5-10 years and can show a clean bill of health (in respect to dodgy dealings) then that would be acceptable in my view. |
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| Author: | MR T [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 7:37 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
Sussex wrote: MR T wrote: To many people from abroad do not provide the same standard of information as British drivers do.. because their own country can not supply it... If they can not then they should not be licenced.IMO To a degree yes. However if they have lived here for more than 5-10 years and can show a clean bill of health (in respect to dodgy dealings) then that would be acceptable in my view. So every person that is British has to have checks for the whole of their lives, but someone from outside of Britain only needs the last 3 years.. it makes a mockery of the reason it's there in the first place... |
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| Author: | heathcote [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 7:52 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
Sussex wrote: MR T wrote: To many people from abroad do not provide the same standard of information as British drivers do.. because their own country can not supply it... If they can not then they should not be licenced.IMO To a degree yes. However if they have lived here for more than 5-10 years and can show a clean bill of health (in respect to dodgy dealings) then that would be acceptable in my view. Some countries in Europe wipe the slate clean after 10 years,record starts the day offence was committed ,you could get the scenario that a person was tried for an offence 9 years after committing found guilty,jailed for 3 years and have a clean record whilst serving the sentence. The same person could have come here after serving sentence and be given a license. If you have a record you should come under our rules and they should be rigidly applied to everyone. |
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| Author: | Sussex [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
MR T wrote: So every person that is British has to have checks for the whole of their lives, but someone from outside of Britain only needs the last 3 years.. it makes a mockery of the reason it's there in the first place... Is it reasonable to expect a person fleeing oppression to get a reference from those they are fleeing from? |
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| Author: | MR T [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
Sussex wrote: MR T wrote: So every person that is British has to have checks for the whole of their lives, but someone from outside of Britain only needs the last 3 years.. it makes a mockery of the reason it's there in the first place... Is it reasonable to expect a person fleeing oppression to get a reference from those they are fleeing from? Are there any exception for British people. |
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| Author: | heathcote [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:46 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
Sussex wrote: MR T wrote: So every person that is British has to have checks for the whole of their lives, but someone from outside of Britain only needs the last 3 years.. it makes a mockery of the reason it's there in the first place... Is it reasonable to expect a person fleeing oppression to get a reference from those they are fleeing from? It is not reasonable to give a person a license unless they meet the standards applied to us British born residents. |
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| Author: | StuartW [ Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:53 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
Interesting memo here from Uber regarding discussions with TfL. https://twitter.com/TootlestheTaxi/stat ... 9668772866 It mentions looking into link between "PCO driver incidents and embassy sponsorship". (Presumably 'embassy sponsorship' refers to the vetting of drivers from overseas, not the old world snooker championship.) |
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| Author: | StuartW [ Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Uber drivers forced to have new criminal record check |
Memo also says: "[Uber] are looking forward to working [with TfL] to see how we can best streamline the PCO licensing process and deliver you high-quality, pre-screened applications." Andrew Gilligan, the author of the Sunday Times article, says: "This is fascinating. Casts some doubt on Uber's claim to me that it did not carry out or process any background checks!" |
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