This was in the Times a few days ago - if the DfT sources are correct then the most concrete evidence yet that legislation will be introduced to stop cross-border working?
Abuse scandals prompt rogue cabbie crackdownhttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/abus ... -x956hm292A purge on rogue minicab drivers will be launched after the child exploitation scandals in towns such as Rochdale and Rotherham.
The Times understands that new legislation will create national standards to improve passenger safety. The Department for Transport (DfT) is also planning to prevent drivers from working away from the area where they hold a licence. Other measures may include setting up a database of drivers whose licences have been refused or revoked, and compulsory CCTV cameras.
It follows the publication of a government-backed review into the industry after a number of sexual exploitation scandals involving young girls being groomed, and in which minicab and taxi drivers were heavily implicated.
The report warned that existing laws governing the industry were “inconsistent, ineffective and incompatible with the protection of vulnerable people and must not be allowed to continue”.
The inquiry, led by Professor Mohammed Abdel-Haq of Bolton University, told how the licensing of cars and individual drivers was devolved to 293 separate councils in England, with “significant variation in both policy and practice”. There has been a big rise in taxis and minicabs licensed in England, with vehicles increasing by 26 per cent between 2011 and last year to a record 281,000. The vast majority were minicabs, which have to be booked and cannot be hailed on the street.
Licensing officers in Rochdale were said to have warned that efforts to tackle sexual exploitation had been undermined by the number of drivers working under licences issued by neighbouring Rossendale council, where a “lower standard” was applied.
An investigation by The Times this year found that for at least six months until the summer of 2016 Rossendale renewed scores of taxi licences without knowing drivers’ up-to-date criminal records. The town, which had 75 taxi rank spaces, licensed more than 3,700 drivers last year, with drivers convicted of offences in areas such as York, Milton Keynes and Manchester.
It was also revealed that Birmingham council handed out licences to criminals with convictions for drug dealing, child abuse, assault and burglary.
DfT sources said that the government would work on plans to “cut the number of drivers operating miles away from where they are licensed”. The report called for legislation to ensure that all journeys should start or end in the area where the driver or vehicle was licensed. A database of drivers whose licences have been refused or revoked, a system developed by the Local Government Association, will be made mandatory for all councils.
A DfT source said: “We have seen too many examples where taxi and minicab drivers have been able to use their job to prey on vulnerable people, especially women and girls. Some local authorities have shown they have lower standards and are being exploited by drivers. The government will step in to make sure higher standards are applied across the country to ensure the people driving these vehicles are fit to do so.”
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