Taxi Driver Online

4,000 Greater Manchester Taxi drivers got a licence in Wolverhampton

Almost a fifth of taxi driving licences given out in Wolverhampton were to drivers registered in Greater Manchester, new figures have shown.

Concerns have been raised with the council about the number of drivers in the borough who obtained their licence in the Midlands city.

Due to the issue of minimum licensing standards being brought forward across Greater Manchester, there were worries that drivers would not have the same standards in terms of safety as costs rise.

Figures show there are a total of 21,853 private hire drivers licensed with the City of Wolverhampton Council.

And out of these, 4,049 belong to drivers who were registered at the time of their application as being in Greater Manchester.

Deputy council leader, Cllr Hilary Fairclough, said there was no way of tracking the amount of taxi drivers coming into the town who were registered elsewhere.

She said: “They can come in, we don’t like it, my advice to be honest would be to anybody booking a taxi is to say to the operator I want one that is registered in Bolton.

One Kearsley leader Paul Heslop raised concerns about this issue.

He said: “I have got one word to say on this issue and that is Wolverhampton.

“I feel personally if minimum licensing standards goes through in Greater Manchester the number from Wolverhampton will go higher and higher.”

Cllr Steve Evans, City of Wolverhampton Council’s cabinet member for city environment and climate change, insisted they had high standards.

He said: “City of Wolverhampton Council has invested heavily in digital technology which enables us to thoroughly check driver and vehicle details.

“We have a high level of licensing standards and are believed to be the first in the country to have introduced daily enhanced DBS checks on all of our drivers.

“We have also introduced technology that checks applicants right to work, similar to the systems found at airports with facial recognition, and we check every new applicant against the National Register for Revocations, Refusals and Suspensions.

“Our investments in digital systems have made savings and allow us to undertake compliance operations across the country every week, including on weekend evenings.

“We have always been at the forefront of implementing stringent taxi licensing standards and we will continue to use the latest technology to ensure both public and passenger safety.”

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IDFIMH

PH drivers not cabbies

and can you blame them it's cheaper ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Not sure it’s the cheapness, if that is a word, that counts, it’s the easiest and quickest way.

Being a Wolverhampton driver is the English equivalent of being an Indian ‘untouchable’.

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IDFIMH

It's like a sausage factory for drivers...

https://drivean.co.uk/

funnily enough I was talking to someone from bury the other week and he actually asked me why are all the local ubers licensed in Wolves; so some of the public do notice !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector