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Taxi drivers in Swindon ordered to do safeguarding course
Taxi drivers in Swindon will be instructed to take an online safeguarding training course as a condition of their licence.
And there are several hundred licensed drivers of both hackney carriages and private hire vehicles who will have six months in which to get certificated.
Swindon Borough Council’s head of regulatory services Kate Bishop told members of the authority’s licensing panel she was asking for its agreement to change the licensing policy: “The advice from government is that licensing authorities should provide guidance to drivers and require them to take training in safeguarding vulnerable people.
“At the moment this council has one page of guidance in the driver’s handbook – we feel we should now require drivers to do the training.”
Ms Bishop said the council required new drivers to undergo a £36 online course, with the training being valid for the length of their licence of three years. If a driver renews a licence, they have to do the training again.
She added: “That leaves a cohort of about 800 to 900 drivers who haven’t been through the training.
“If the committee agrees we propose to require these drivers to take the training by the end of March 2024. And then all drivers will have to renew the training on renewal of their licence.”
One member Fay Howard asked whether Ms Bishop had seen or undergone the training, and she said both she and the licensing manager had: “It raises awareness of the signs of someone being vulnerable, and give you the confidence to either address that or report it if you recognise the signs.
“It’s mostly what you might expect, but there’s specific part about child sexual exploitation.”
Chairman of the committee John Ballman said: “It works out at £12 per year, or 20p per week. It seems a very sensible investment in the drivers’ business.”
The committee also approved a change which would require a driver who is arrested or comes to the attention of the police for some reason, to report that to the council within 24 hours of release.
Councillor Junab Ali said: “Can we ask the police to inform us of this? If they don’t, and the driver doesn’t tell us, we could be facing a very serious incident.”
Coun Ali was told it wasn’t possible to mandate the police engage in activities which are the council’s responsibility and it would be possible that a driver doesn’t tell the police.
Ms Bishop said: “If we say drivers must tell us, and they don’t, then we can do something about it.”
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