Taxi Driver Online

14 Barrow taxi drivers have 33 convictions between them, The Mail reveals

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/barrow/14 ... e52f522-ds

The council is tasked with granting taxi licences only to those considered to be a "fit and proper person" and this remit includes looking at past convictions.

FOURTEEN taxi drivers are operating in Barrow despite having 33 criminal convictions between them.

A Freedom of Information request submitted to Barrow Borough Council revealed 14 of the borough's 313 licensed hackney and private hire taxi drivers have a criminal conviction.

The council is tasked with granting taxi licences only to those considered to be a "fit and proper person" and this remit includes looking at past convictions.

In its policy, the council states it will "pay particular attention to any convictions for offences with a public safety element".

When applying for a three-year licence, cabbies are obliged to disclose any and all criminal convictions, including those which are spent, and once a year must make an annual declaration notifying the council of any new criminal convictions or endorsements.

Any applicant with a serious violent conviction within the last five years or a violent conviction within the last three years is "likely to be refused a licence" while any convictions relating to the loss of life or sex offences will automatically bar anyone from obtaining a licence.

An applicant is also likely to be refused a licence if they have any drugs or alcohol-related convictions in the last three to five years.

Taxi drivers are also required to pass a series of tests including ones which assess their knowledge of local geography, the Highway Code, disability awareness and mental arithmetic.

Since January 2013 the licensing regulatory committee has made decisions relating to 14 different taxi drivers in Barrow who have between them 33 criminal convictions.

Those convictions include: battery; GBH; harassment; wounding; arson; using public telecoms system to send menacing matter; damaging property; obstructing police; using threatening behaviour; failure to notify change of circumstances affecting entitlement to benefit; handling stolen goods; drunk and disorderly; possession of class B drugs; taking a vehicle without consent; using a vehicle while uninsured; speeding and using a mobile phone behind the wheel.

An application will normally be refused where the applicant has 12 or more penalty points although the figures from the council reveal one taxi driver has been granted a licence despite having previously accrued the maximum number of points.

Public protection manager Graham Barker, who was promoted to lead the environmental health department at Barrow Council in April following the retirement of Anne Pearson, said that many of the convictions in the list were historical.

He said: "If a taxi driver notifies the council of a new conviction we will look at their entire criminal record so some of the offences on the list will be from an individual's youth or from many years before.

"When convictions are spent we have a standard whereby an individual can still get a licence but anything beyond that is taken to the licensing regulatory committee to be decided.

"Every case has to be heard on its own merits."

Bob Mullen, of the Furness Taxi Trade Association, said: "I do know that we have very strict conditions on drivers licensing. These have been tightened up in the recent past."

Those convictions, of which some are held by more than one driver, include:

Battery – 4 drivers

Harassment – 2 drivers

ABH – 5 drivers

Wounding

Travelling on railway without paying

Using public telecoms system to send menacing matter

Arson

Damaging property

Obstructing police

Using threatening behaviour

Failure to notify change of circumstances affecting entitlement to benefit

Handling stolen goods

Drunk & disorderly

Possession of Class B Drug

Destroy or damage property

Caution for cultivation of marijuana

Use threatening words/behaviour

Exceeding max permitted axle weight

Taking vehicle without consent

Driving otherwise than in accordance with licence

Using vehicle whilst uninsured

9 Points on licence over 3 years - Speeding – 2 drivers

9 Points on licence over 3 years - Driving without Due Care & Attention and Speeding.

12 Points on licence - Speeding / Failure to give information / Use of Mobile phone.

When applying for a three-year licence, cabbies are obliged to disclose any and all criminal convictions, including those which are spent, and once a year must make an annual declaration notifying the council of any new criminal convictions or endorsements.

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

Driving convictions such as speeding do not show on a dbs.

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Grandad,

yes Pete I do know my point was that how many of these convictions are spent convictions from long ago

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

My understanding is that convictions for a licensee or an application to be a licensee are never spent in our case.

not round our way it isn't yes it appears on dbs BUT if nothing for several years since of course they give applicants the benefit of the doubt hence the above list because it looks like they do the same in barrow

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

Nothing is spent round our way too.

There is a difference between spent convictions and convictions that can be taken into account.

In short someone might have a theft conviction from long ago, which will show up, but it doesn't mean a council has to take it into account.

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IDFIMH

Bit of a rehash of the article above from nearly four years ago.

And, of course, not dissimilar to other articles from other local areas.

So, for example, there's the stuff about convictions held by those simply *applying* for a licence, which doesn't tell us very much, and that the council can't even say whether such applicants have been granted a licence...

And the usual formulaic 'comms' stuff from the council about fit and proper, safety is paramount, each case decided on its merits, blah, blah...


Shocking list of previous convictions held by Barrow taxi drivers

https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/19886875 ... i-drivers/

THE shocking list of convictions held by taxi drivers in Barrow has been revealed.

Convictions for serious violence, driving offences and other law-breaking are among those held by cabbies in the borough.

And figures released to The Mail under freedom of information laws showed that one driver with a previous conviction for manslaughter had attempted to gain a licence.

Other convictions include drug cultivation, benefit fraud and drink driving.

Barrow Council, the licensing body for taxi drivers, has stressed some of the previous offences of taxi drivers stretch back more than 20 years.

It said its licensing committee decides whether to grant licences to drivers with convictions if they do not meet rules set out in its taxi licensing policies.

The council could not say whether the driver convicted of manslaughter was granted a licence in an application made in 2020.

According to the figures, at least 92 applications to renew a licence have been made by taxi drivers with previous convictions since 2017.

Six new applications by drivers with convictions have been made in that time.

Driving without due care and attention, damaging property, causing actual bodily harm and drug possession were listed among their previous offences.

Councillor Tony Callister, the chair of Barrow Council's licensing committee said: "The council has a policy in place that sets out the criteria when making decisions about new applications and licences currently in force.

"However, it must be noted that each application will be considered on its own merits and where it is necessary to depart substantially from the policy clear and compelling reasons will be given.

"Some of the information regarding the offences of licensed drivers date back more than 20 years. Individual cases that do not meet the policy are considered by members of the Licensing Regulatory Committee.

"The Council has a duty to ensure that those licensed to drive hackney carriages and private hire vehicles are suitable persons to do so, and will wish to satisfy itself that applicants and licensed drivers are safe drivers with good driving records and adequate experience, sober, courteous, mentally and physically fit, honest and not persons who would take advantage of their employment to abuse or assault passengers."

nowt like the gutter press for constantly regurgitating old tittle tattle and making it sound like it's a new "shocking" discovery

nowt to see here move along

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

So those 14 drivers who had historical convictions 4 years ago, still have those historical convictions now.

Who would have thought?

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IDFIMH