Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver bans for sex crimes, drugs and phone use

https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/2 ... phone-use/

Taxi drivers have been refused licences with Buckinghamshire Council over sex offences, drug taking and using phones in cars.

Some 53 cabbies had their applications for permits blocked in the year to September 30, 2024, newly published annual figures show.

This is more than double the 20 driver applications to the council that were refused during the previous 12 months.

The council’s principal licensing officer Simon Gallacher said: “We saw a significant increase in the number of driver applications refused.

“Although it is worth just highlighting that represents only four per cent of the total applications we received.”

The most common reasons for refusal included motoring offences such as driving without insurance and using a mobile phone while driving, as well as ‘dishonesty’ such as failing to include offences on applications and providing false information.

Other reasons for refusal included sex offences, possession of class A and B drugs, possession of a knife, convictions for burglary, theft, battery and fraud, as well as dangerous driving, speeding, having defective tyres, licensing offences and DVLA disqualification.

Mr Gallacher told a meeting of the licensing committee on Tuesday: “These refusals highlight the importance of maintaining high standards for taxi and private hire driver licensing to ensure that public safety and trust is maintained.”

The officer said each case involved a ‘significant’ amount of his colleagues’ time for investigations and to make ‘sound decisions’ that would withstand a legal challenge.

Mr Gallacher said the council successfully defended itself in six out of seven driver appeals against the refusal or revocation of licences in the period, with costs awarded to the authority in several cases.

These included an applicant with ‘poor driving standards’ who was found guilty of careless driving after colliding with a motorbike, while another driver was banned after they ‘engaged in inappropriate conversations whilst transporting children’.

During the period, 26 drivers had their licences revoked including for motoring offences, such as using phones at the wheel and driving under the influence of drugs.

Violence offences, including one murder investigation and arrests for assault and criminal damage, were among the other reasons.

Dishonesty, such as failing to notify authorities of arrests, convictions, or changes in personal details, was also a ‘significant factor’, according to the council’s annual report.

Other grounds included safeguarding concerns, medical unfitness to drive, and ‘serious concerns’ over driving standards and judgement.

Meanwhile, 10 vehicle licences were revoked during the period, most of which were due to taxis sustaining ‘significant damage’ in accidents.

The licensing service received 310 online complaints in the year to September 30, 2024, slightly less than the 335 received during the previous 12-month reporting period.

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IDFIMH

Might struggle objecting to that.

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IDFIMH

5 Years immediate Taxi licence band for CU80 (convicted of using a mobile phone whilst driving)

Madness.

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IDFIMH

(This is a new piece below from a different source, and I spent [far too long] trying to find out some explanation for what's said below, until coming across the earlier piece above )

So it all seems a bit back to front, although the article below is about a council meeting a couple of days ago, while the article above was published more than six weeks ago )


This looked potentially interesting, but it's very thin on detail and explanations.

But quite what the relevance of the word 'apps' is in the headline here is anyone's guess - it's presumably all about applications for badges

But even a sentence or two about why the applications were refused would be useful, but there's nothing specific here at all...


165 per cent rise in taxi driver licence apps refused

https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/2 ... s-refused/

A councillor has said he is surprised by a huge rise in the number of taxi licences refused by Buckinghamshire Council.

Between October 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024, the authority rejected 53 applications for new licences compared to the 20 refused during the same period last year – an increase of 165 per cent.

The data was presented to a meeting of the council’s licensing committee on Thursday where Cllr Nick Southworth said the spike in licence refusals was ‘staggeringly high’.

He asked whether the rise was down to new processes or just an ‘inundation of inappropriate candidates’.

The council’s principal licensing officer Simon Gallacher said officers did not have a ‘conclusive answer’ to what was behind the rise but said there had also been an increase in complaints.

He said: “That may have possibly something to do with it. We have made some improvements to our reporting procedures to make it easier for people to report online. So, that might be one element to it.”

Lindsay Vallis, the service director for integrated transport, said the council undertook a ‘significant’ level of investigative and enforcement activity.

During the meeting, councillors voted to increase taxi fees to coincide with the council’s draft budget, which cabinet approved last week and will be ratified at full council next month.

The new schedule of taxi fees will see a new three-year licence go from £368 to £387, while a new five-year licence for an operator with one vehicle will go from £593 to £623.

Anyway, although the headline figures look significant, I don't think there's much to see here at all, and it's essentially just one of those pieces where a list of rejected applications includes the rationale for the rejections, as if it was particularly significant

But Buckinghamshire Council was formed from four previous local councils, and only just before lockdown. And it issues over 3,000 badges in total, and isn't the cross-border thing down there all very messy?

So in view of that, and lockdown, and it being a newish authority, things are probably just settling down. So the numbers forming the headline don't really look particularly newsworthy, if you want my opinion...

Well given it's his department that has refused the applications then he bloody well should have a conclusive answer, even if the reasons are more than one.

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IDFIMH

The UK economy isn't exactly flourishing at the moment so maybe more people are turning to our trade as a "last resort" and many of those people may have a chequered track record.

It might be an interesting comparison if more local authorities show a similar trend in application refusals.

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