New tips on cabbies with crime pastNEW guidelines to deal with people with criminal convictions who apply for a taxi licence could be brought in, a report has revealed.
Barrow Borough Council’s licensing committee is set to adopt new guidelines which will give councillors more guidance when considering applications for taxi licences.
Chairman of the licensing committee, Councillor Tony Callister, said members needed more guidance on how to deal with cases where applicants had criminal convictions.
He said: “What it boils down to is we needed to set some parameters for us to be able to acknowledge so that when people put in a request, we have a strategy to help us make a decision.”
A draft version of the guidelines has been prepared for Wednesday’s meeting and states each case must be decided on merit and licences will only be granted to “fit and proper” people. It states that for anyone who has been convicted of dishonesty, drugs or serious motoring offences, it is likely that any applications made within three to five years of their release are likely to be refused. An application is also likely to be refused if someone has been convicted of serious crimes such as murder, robbery or possessing an offensive weapon.
In the report, the environmental health manager said: “The purpose of the review was to produce a policy and set of guidelines which gave more guidance than the current policy to help provide greater consistency and fairness when considering applications for drivers’ licences.”
A final decision will be made at Thursday’s meeting at Barrow Town Hall at 2pm.
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