Criminal checks for Sandwell taxi drivers to changehttp://www.halesowennews.co.uk/news/163 ... to_change/CRIMINAL record checks for taxi drivers in Sandwell are to be changed for people who lived abroad.
A recommendation to change the rigorous vetting of new applicants is to be discussed by councillors at the council’s cabinet meeting on Wednesday (June 27).
Among the recommendations is a proposal that new and existing taxi drivers, who can’t provide a formal criminal record check from other countries, be allowed to provide other evidence to the borough’s licence committees.
A report to the cabinet states the council’s present policy demands drivers who have have lived overseas to produce a criminal record check from ‘the country/countries covering the period you lived in the country’.
But council officers have said this is having a detrimental impact for both new and existing drivers.
Councillors are being recommended to change the present system so new applicants are required to produce criminal record checks or equivalent after the age of 18 for those countries they have resided in.
Licensed drivers who have to attend the licensing committee following a criminal conviction will need to produce a criminal record check or equivalent of when they were resident in other countries as an adult.
In addition, new applicants or existing drivers who cannot produce a criminal record check will be referred to committee and invited to produce information before a decision is made.
Council officers say the changes will still require all checks are in compliance with Home Office guidance.
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