Taxi Driver Online

From a foriegn nationals embassy.

Local council's are now told to accept these where a CRB check cannot take place because of the short length of time an applicant has been in the UK. But just how rigourous are these good conduct certificates in comparison with a CRB check?

A. Equally rigourous.

B. Not at all rigourous.

_________________
Former taxi driver

Yes I KNOW it's CERTIFICATE.

_________________
Former taxi driver

http://cmis.sefton.gov.uk/CMISWebPublic ... ment=27309


Jimbo, I'll be going before the council on Monday 27th to ask the council if they realise that people who are coming in from abroad do not have to provide the same level of CRB check that the council requires from British born drivers, if you click onto the link above you'll see the difference in the standard...

_________________
Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

As regards to the standard of English comprehension, arithmetical ability and route finding skills displayed by any applicant it is suggested that a further report be brought to the committee as soon as a consultation exercise has been undertaken.

Is this a case of Sefton lowering its already basic approach to standards or is it a case of highering those basic standards? Needless to say, many other licensing authorities have the same problem.

JD

All the guidance is apparently on the CRB website.

But in essence you are correct. The CRB equivalent in foreign countries may not be to the same standard as the UK.

They might be more stringent, but equally they might be an awful lot worse.

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

_________________
Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Oops


It is a case of another day another problem, I was recently in the Hackney Office when a young lady from the EU, who had just passed the knowledge test, was licensing her car, she had already made a mistake when getting the vehicle through its test, she had simply got a ordinary MoT and had to go back, but the interesting part was that she could not fill the licensing forms in, and was attempting to do so by passing her mobile phone backwards and forwards between herself and the lady on the opposite side of the counter

It would seem to me that she would have problems with ordinary sober people, drunks would be a nightmare, and God knows what would happen if she was involved in an accident as she needed an ambulance.......

_________________
Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Apart from what you already plan on saying on Monday, if I had to address councillors about the situation in respect of licensing conditions relating to quality controls, Eastern Europeans CRB checks etc, I would state the following.
........................................................

Councillors should be made aware that the UK taxi trade is currently going through a sea change in quality controls of both drivers and vehicles. There is a new urgency amongst the 343 licensing authorities in making sure the public is best served by not only quantity measures but also Quality.

It is for this reason that we in Sefton ask the council to take closer scrutiny at the entry levels of all drivers applying for licenses. Particular reference is made to those persons outside the UK who may well have difficulty in communicating with passengers in the areas such as the English language, numerically and street knowledge.

EU Criminal record checks are a major public concern and the standard of such checks should be measured against the right of the public to be protected. The Sefton Taxi trade wants councillors to consider a high tariff where no such checks are made available or can be verified as being genuine. Allowing EU nationals to obtain a letter of some sort stating they are free from conviction in our opinion is a watering down of quality controls.

It is not the fault of Sefton council that some applicants might not be able to meet the required standards set down by this council but under the circumstances we believe that those standards should remain high, even though it may mean a refusal to some EU applicants.

In respect of street knowledge tests, in conjunction with the English language and communication skills. The Sefton Taxi trade believes all three of these elements go hand in hand with regard to quality controls. A person who cannot speak the English language with any degree of fluency or understanding will not be able to communicate with passengers and are unlikely to know where they are going?

A recent case in point is that of an Eastern European Taxi driver in Bournemouth who was asked by two young ladies to take them to Lymington in the New Forest. The driver having limited knowledge of the local area and only a satellite navigation system to guide him ended up in a town with a similar sounding name some 80 miles away in Somerset. All this came about because of the lack of communication skills of the Eastern European driver?

The council has a heavy burden to bear because it has to balance the right of the public to be protected against the right of the license applicant. However quality and safety controls are set for a purpose and should only be relaxed under exceptional circumstances. Every applicant should be treated the same but those who cannot supply the safeguards required by this council should not be allowed to circumvent the system.

In line with other other authorities such as Birmingham we suggest written and English language tests as a matter of course, Street knowledge tests without the aid of a satellite navigation system or street maps, practical communication tests undertaken in a real live work environment but before any of these tests can take place a criminal background check must be obtained, which satisfies the high standard required by this council.

Under current legislation a legal difficulty may arise in applying stringent street knowledge tests in order to obtain a Private hire drivers license but that is for this council to reconcile?
....................................................

You have put it more eloquently than I would have.. but we are of the same mind...

_________________
Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Well print it off take it with you and when you make your speech to the committee or whoever it is your talking to make sure you have their attention. I don't have to tell an experianced guy like you how to perfom but if it was me I would do the following.

Talk slowly, coherently and grab their attention by opening up with the fact that this is a very serious matter and one which has never before presented itself before this committee. The items we are discussing today are symptomatic throughout all 343 licensing authorities in England and Wales and we thank both the licensing department and the committee for giving us this opportunity to convey our views and perhpas offer some guidance on the way forward?

You can take it from there....

Regards

JD

When I filled out my last CRB application I had to produce.

My:-

Passport

Drivers License

Marriage Certificate

Proof of National Insurance number

A recent utility bill

Birth Certificate

Bank account details (!!!!!!!!!)


My question is, if I were an asylum seeker from say Afganistan, or Iraq, who had no identification when I sought asylum, how would a "certificate" given to me by my embassy stating I was a thoroughly good egg who used to help old ladies cross the road, give a licensing officer the confidence to issue me with a badge?

_________________
Former taxi driver

Is an overseas police check an acceptable alternative to a CRB check?


This will be dependent on the length of your residency in the UK and whether there is a specific mandatory requirement to obtain a CRB check. Overseas authorities do not have access to UK criminal records, or any relevant information contained on the government department lists held by the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills. The decision as to whether an overseas check is acceptable will be that of the Registered Body.

www.crb.gov.uk

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Now this is worrying?

Britain fails fake passport test

Shahida at UK Customs


Read Shahida's story of what happened
Serious questions have been raised over Britain's border security after a BBC journalist entered the UK twice on fake and stolen passports.
Shahida Tulaganov obtained 20 illegal passports - each from an EU country, including the UK - within months.

Those in the trade told her to travel via sea or bus, saying port security was less stringent than airports.

The Home Office said it works closely with the EU to tackle the crime, taking the issue of false documents seriously.

In 2004, 8,285 fraudulent documents were detected at UK ports of entry, according to Home Office figures.

Entering the UK on a fake or stolen passport carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail, while making a false statement to obtain a passport can lead to a prison sentence of up to two years.

Shahida travelled across Europe to obtain her false documents for her Panorama investigation.

They ranged in price from just £250 to more than £1,500. Some were provided within several days, while others took weeks.

She found her first illegal passport dealer in the centre of London - through an advertisement in a Russian language newspaper.

The dealer - Henry - provided her with a Czech passport, by getting someone who looked like her to apply for one, using her photo.

Forgery detection

Shahida's investigation poses questions over the number of non-EU nationals entering Britain on illegal passports. She uses Poland as an example.

"Since [Poland] country joined the EU less than two years ago a quarter of a million Poles have left and legally registered for work in Britain," she says.

"But if my contacts are right, many of these may not have been Poles at all, but illegal immigrants using fake passports."

SHAHIDA'S PASSPORTS
UK, Germany
France, Italy
Sweden, Denmark
Finland, Estonia
Netherlands, Belgium
Spain, Portugal
Greece, Slovenia
Czech Republic, Poland
Austria, Slovakia
Lithuania, Latvia

Shahida entered Britain via boat - from Spain to Portsmouth - on a fake Latvian passport, and then later on the Eurostar using a stolen Estonian passport.

Despite information on stolen passports being registered to a central Interpol database, her Estonian passport went undetected.

The Home Office says there is a "comprehensive bilateral exchange of information between member states regarding the issue of lost and stolen EU passports".

It maintains that in addition to this, all immigration officers are highly trained in identifying false documents.

"All our immigration officers at British ports are trained in forgery detection techniques and have access to specialist forgery detection equipment," a spokesperson said.

The government has also introduced biometric e-passports with images securely stored inside chips, in an attempt to combat forgery and improve the security of British passports.


Panorama: My Fake Passports and Me will be broadcast on Monday, 4 December, 2006 at 2100 GMT on BBC One.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6169678.stm

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin