Taxi passengers could be at risk from drivers who have committed crimes abroadTAXI passengers could be at risk from drivers who may be working in East Yorkshire despite having committed crimes abroad.
Drivers in the UK have enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks revealing previous convictions to prevent people from becoming drivers if they might be a danger to the public.
But drivers working in Hull and the East Riding after coming from other countries are not always subject to the same background checks in their home countries – and police must sometimes wait months or years for foreign criminal records to arrive.
Detective Constable Craig Nicholson, of Humberside Police, said: "Some countries are better than others at providing information, and some are quicker than others.
"Not everybody keeps the same levels of records as we keep in the UK, and some of the more developing countries keep records that are not as good.
"I've dealt with some cases and it can take months or years to get details of previous convictions."
Taxi driver rules are laid out by licensing committees at Hull City Council and East Riding Council.
For people who have been resident in the UK for less than five years, they rely on a certificate of good conduct from the embassy of a person's home country.
However, these certificates do not always show detailed criminal records.
Ian Teal, a taxi driver with Beverley's Westmoreland Cars, said: "They should have to do the same as us, really.
"We have the trust of people in our car. Sometimes, we carry women by themselves and, on rare occasions, we have kids by themselves – and you have to be 100 per cent sure the taxi driver is above board."
Mr Teal called for more detailed checks. He said: "I don't think the current system works. It needs some more thorough investigation of the person involved."
Nadine Fudge, chair of Hull City Council's licensing committee, said she was looking at reviewing records checks for foreign drivers.
"It's a bit of a problem," she said. "It seems a bit iffy.
"I think licensing do as much as they can do. I've been pushing for all drivers to have to speak English.
"All taxi drivers now have to do a test for knowledge of the city."
Ms Fudge said the council actively refused licences to people known to be a risk to the public.
"Foreign taxi drivers do also go through the same process of being checked with our police," she said.
"If we do have any people here with problems, they do have their licence removed."
"It's possible we will look at reviewing this process – at the moment, there's quite a lot of changing legislation."
Det Con Nicholson said council licensing teams had a constructive relationship with the police.
"We have a good working relationship with the licensing team," he said.
"There are protective measures in place, and it's about a multi-agency approach."
source:
http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.u ... story.html
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