Taxi Driver Online

TfL offers temporary relief for taxi drivers over criminal check backlog as row escalates over taxi drivers' DSB checks

Transport for London has agreed to introduce temporary licences for existing taxi drivers after a major backlog of criminal checks had built up, forcing drivers off the road.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, are processed by the Home Office and individual police forces. But drivers have complained that they have been unable to work - in some cases since August - because of the delays.

Today TfL said it was seeking to ease the pressure by issuing temporary licences to existing drivers who had applied for their check more than three months before their licence expired.

The licences will initially be limited to two weeks in length, although drivers can apply for a renewal.

Drivers from both black cab and private hire vehicle industries who are applying for a licence for the first time will not be eligible.

The Met has already drafted in around 60 additional members of staff to help with the backlog, which has become a major headache for taxi drivers over the last few months.

"The new measures will further ease pressure, whilst ensuring that the high standards required from drivers are maintained," TfL said.

London Mayor Boris Johnson, said: "The last thing we want to see is London's taxi drivers out of work. These temporary measures are the most effective way of tackling the immediate issue, alongside a dramatic boost to staffing levels at the Met.

"I am confident that this approach will ensure that drivers are able to get back to work as soon as possible while maintaining public safety."

Garrett Emmerson, TfL’s Chief Operating Officer for Surface Transport, said: “We are aware that a number of drivers have been unable to work due to the delays in receiving their DBS certificate, and that these delays are affecting them and their families.

“These new measures will help these drivers while ensuring that the high standards required of drivers are maintained.”

As a condition of the temporary measures, drivers will be required to sign up to the DBS update service in order to prevent a similar situation occurring in future.

The move has been welcomed by the London Taxi Drivers Association, which earlier today described it as "a victory for common sense and the LTDA".

source: http://www.cityam.com/228404/tfl-offers ... dsb-checks

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

My Local authority has got its ass in gear over this my dbs expires on 20/02/2016, the application for the new one arrived yesterday with advice to get it filled in ASAP.

once one is done it should not need doing again unless they leave the trade

EH they are every 3 years surely well mine is anyway

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

That will rely on the driver signing up for the annual update service. If you don't sign up to this service, you still require a new DBS every 3 years. Also if you do something that will show on a DBS even if you have the update service, you will need a new one.

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Grandad,

Maybe those 60 people would be best off working for the DBS people.

That said I got mine back in two weeks.

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IDFIMH

My LA can't use the online checking service, they only check 340 people a year, well under the DBS requirement for using the online service so we have to pay the full £44 or whatever it is to get checked.

the update service falls a long way short of the "passport" system the FSB proposed it only works under limited circumstances and is not universal what is needed is something similar to the DVLA system where all recorded information is put onto the system and all that is needed is a reference number to get an up to date printout. I'm sure the annual fees they charge could pay for someone to sit in each nick uploading the info into the database

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector