Derby cabby sees Christmas hit by licence rule changesA DERBY taxi driver has told how changes to licence renewal rules have cost him hundreds of pounds and will make Christmas a "struggle".
Michael Brannan, 58, has been hit by the issues that prompted more than 100 taxi drivers to protest outside the city's Council House on Wednesday.
A change in law means taxi drivers will get licences to operate that run for three years instead of one.
The city council has introduced rules to make sure cabbies are "fit and proper" to hold the longer licences.
This has meant some cabbies will need to get an updated criminal record check and take a new medical when they come to renew their licences – even though their current certificates haven't expired.
But drivers like Mr Brannan say delays caused by high demand for the criminal record checks have left them unable to renew their licence in time, putting them temporarily out of work.
Mr Brannan, of Marjorie Road, Chaddesden, said he estimated that, by the time his criminal record check had come through, he could have lost up to £1,400 profit.
He said: "It's my Christmas it could affect. I've got children, grand-children who I always give £100 each to. It's going to be a struggle."
Mr Brannan said that when the council originally wrote, in July, to say his renewal was coming up, it said a medical examination was needed but no criminal record check.
But when, on October 5, he went to the council to hand over the documents they needed, he found the law had changed and he did need the check.
His licence was up for renewal on October 19 and the council, Mr Brannan claims, said he could, that day, get the one-year renewal and not the three-year.
But Mr Brannan said he didn't want to do that because he would have to go through the whole renewal process again next year.
He said he was swayed to wait for the criminal record check by people at the council who told him "that his application for DBS (the criminal record check) would take four to six weeks to come through but that mostly they come back before that". Mr Brannan said he was willing to accept a couple of weeks of lost pay.
But he said he rang up the criminal records check service earlier this week to discover that, from time of application, demand was seeing them take six to eight weeks.
Mr Brannan said that meant he was now looking at four weeks where he wouldn't be unable to drive.
He said he earned up to £350 a week, making a total potential loss of £1,400.
Mr Brannan said: "It's just a bit sickening that they changed the rules a week before I went to hand in my documents."
He questioned whether the council should have known he would need a criminal records check when they first wrote to him to say his renewal was up – something that would have allowed him to make his application earlier.
City taxi drivers have said they want a period where they can sign a declaration saying they have not committed an offence while they wait for their criminal records check to come through.
But this has already been rejected through a vote of the council's Licensing Committee with one of those who voted against, Councillor Mick Barker, later saying it would have been "outside of the law".
A city council statement said: "To help drivers keep up to date, the council writes to all drivers three months before a licence is due for renewal to remind them to book in for a check or examination.
"It is now even more important that drivers react to the letter, understand the changes, and give themselves plenty of time for any new checks and examinations to be carried out."
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http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/Derby-c ... z3q2ToXXIc
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