Taxi Driver Online

The Sentinel (Stoke)

August 25, 2006 Friday

HEADLINE: So just who can drive our children?

BYLINE: Rob Parsons

Councillors in Stoke-on-Trent are set to lobby the Government to close loopholes allowing drivers to ferry children without police checks.

A working group of about 15 community leaders has been set up following concerns that drivers of buses and private ambulances were not required to take Criminal Record Bureau checks.

The safeguards - which are mandatory for Hackney Carriage and private hire vehicles - are designed to ensure that drivers are suitable.

But Stoke-on-Trent city councillor Joy Garner says loopholes in the system allow potentially unsuitable drivers to gain access to children and vulnerable adults.

Mrs Garner - who is chairman of the city council's licensing committee - said: "People who have a contract to drive from A to B such as a firm that does school runs or hospital trips don't have to take CRB checks at all. "This is a massive issue - it is about public safety because there could be rapes or muggings."

Other problems highlighted by the working group include a lack of regulation over limousines and the fact that bus drivers are not suspended from work if charged with an offence relevant to their job.

Currently bus companies and other transport firms can apply for a Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) license if they state all convictions that might relate to their job.

But the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) are now set to get the views of businesses and council officials on making CRB checks compulsory for applications.

The move would mean that any incidents in the driver's history would be included - even if the matter did not lead to a conviction. A spokesman for the DVLA said: "We have started to informally take the views of industry and local authorities in order to help shape a public consultation on checks for PCV licence applicants."

A spokesman for Stoke-on-Trent City Council said they backed the efforts the working group were making. He said: "While private hire drivers and Hackney Carriage drivers have to go through stringent checks, there is a loophole which allows other people to drive the public. We believe this should be closed."

The move to tighten checks on bus drivers comes after a BBC documentary revealed more than a dozen cases within the last three years where school bus drivers have sexually abused children. A spokesman for First Bus, the leading bus provider in the region, said they did not run any school services in North Staffordshire.

He said: "As far as Cheshire goes there are some school services and the relevant ones are carried out in conjunction with the local authority."
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