Seems to be a few similar cases around County Durham way?
County Durham taxi boss fined for employing unlicensed driverhttps://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/ ... ed-driver/THE owner of a County Durham taxi company has been fined for failing to check whether a driver had a license and the proper checks before sending him to transport children on the daily school run. Ian Clydesdale, from Burnopfield, County Durham, has been ordered to pay more than £1,600 and received six penalty points on his licence after pleading guilty to knowingly employing a driver without the correct licence.
The 59-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges under the Local Government Act 1976 and a third charge under the Road Traffic Act 1988, following an investigation by Durham County Council’s enforcement team.
In July 2021, the county council’s licensing department received information suggesting that Burnopfield Private Hire was employing a driver who allegedly didn’t have a private hire driver's licence.
After investigating the claims, checks revealed that the private hire licence of one of the company's drivers had expired on June 13, 2021.
When licensing enforcement officers contacted Clydesdale, as the holder of the business's operator licence, he told them that the driver had been carrying out school pick-ups and drop-offs on July 9, 2021.
At an interview under caution, Clydesdale stated that he had seen the driver's badges only from a distance and had not taken copies or noted any expiry dates.
Applicants for private hire licences are subject to a rigorous vetting procedure, which includes a Disclosure and Barring Service check, a full medical examination, and a legislation test.
Only once a driver has been determined as 'fit and proper' will the council issue a licence and identification badge.
Although the driver in question had been licensed up until June 13, 2021, he had not submitted a renewal application for his licence and was not signed up to the Disclosure and Barring Service check – meaning that investigating officers were not able to check if he had received any recent convictions.
Initially, Clydesdale claimed that the unlicensed driver had only ever driven one vehicle but later admitted that he had also driven a second.
He accepted that as the driver didn't have a valid private hire driver licence, the insurance on both vehicles would have been invalid.
Clydesdale, of Garesfield Gardens, was unable to provide copies of the company's booking records when requested, which also breached council policy.
During a recent court appearance, magistrates in Peterlee gave Clydesdale credit for his early guilty plea.
He was fined £1,140 and ordered to pay costs of £388, and a £114 victim surcharge, a total of £1,642. Clydesdale was also issued with six penalty points on his driving licence.
Following the court judgement, Owen Cleugh, Durham County Council’s public protection manager, said: "In exercising our role as licensing authority, our primary function is to protect the public. The position of a private hire driver or operator is one of extreme trust and before licensing any driver, we must be satisfied that the prospective taxi driver is a 'fit and proper' person to hold such a licence.
"By hiring an unlicensed driver, Mr Clydesdale invalidated the company's insurance policy and potentially put the vulnerable children who his company transported at risk. This prosecution highlights the importance of complying with the required vetting process for any staff a business employs."
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