Taxi Driver Online

Wolverhampton Council aims to cut taxi licence applications amid 'sex abuse fears'

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black- ... i-30094807

City of Wolverhampton Council is putting the brakes on the number of private hire drivers it licences after recent sex abuse cases. Ten years ago, the authority licensed around 1,200 drivers, but following deregulation, the number exploded to more than 45,000, working in towns as far afield as Blackpool and Southampton.

Following sex abuse cases where licensed taxis were implicated the council now wants to deter applications in a bid to limit possible reputational damage. A report for the council’s latest meeting of its Audit and Risk Committee found that as the number of licensees increases, so does the likelihood of a serious issue.

The report added: “There have been serious child sex exploitation scandals revealed in Rotherham and Telford, which involved taxi drivers. “Licensed vehicles provide a ‘camouflage’ which allows vehicles to traffic vulnerable people, as well as the offer of free trips for grooming.”

John Roseblade, director of resident services, told the committee: “There are pieces of work to try to throttle back the number of applications we are receiving. “One of which is that there used to be a requirement we would visit drivers, now we require drivers to attend Wolverhampton, which is designed to discourage people.”

The Deregulation Act 2015 allowed taxi operators to subcontract bookings out to other firms licensed by other authorities, whereas previously, they could only use companies from the same area. The change coincided with major improvements in how Wolverhampton licensed drivers, making it one of the fastest services in the country.

While in some areas, it could take up to four months to get a licence, Wolverhampton’s digital system was fast and efficient, which caused a boom in applications. The law also meant the authority was not allowed to turn down applications just because they were from outside Wolverhampton.

The council can only spend funds raised from fees on private hire licensing rather than general expenditure so, as numbers rose, the extra income was used for more upgrades and to cut charges – making the service even more attractive. To maintain high safeguarding and safety standards, the council is spending the cash on a system which checks every driver’s DBS certificate status every day, airport style facial recognition software to process new applicants and officers carrying out hundreds of safety checks in all parts of the country.

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IDFIMH

gate, open, horse, bolted

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

There you go Wanna, no you know why your DBS gets checked so often.

Maybe they think the writing is on the wall regarding cross-border working, and are now trying to wind it all down in anticipation rather than facing a cliff-edge scenario a few years down the line.

I mean, the Labour government is inspiring huge confidence with regards to competence, integrity and promoting the public interest, so sorting out the cross-border thing should be a breeze

What does that mean, precisely?

Pretty sure Wolverhampton officials toured the UK allowing applicants to undertake any licensing requirements in their local operator’s bases.

Which does put to bed all the bollocks often spouted by the basket case council that they are only doing what the law requires them to do.

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IDFIMH

I retired from Lincoln HC trade three years ago, and no regrets at all. When I speak to mates who are still in the trade, they tell me that Wolverhampton have told Lincoln licensing to stop emailing them with complaints about wolves drivers. They don’t do a thing about any complaints anyway.

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Former taxi driver

It means you have to have a day out in Wolverhampton to do all the stuff they want you to do before you can get a license.

I was puzzled about what the director said about the former requirement that Wolves council 'visited' drivers, rather than the other way round, Grandad.

(That was why I highlighted that bit in the quote with my usual purple colour, although I forget that some people may be colour blind )

Whether by 'visit' he may mean spot checks or whatever, it's an odd way to put it. And it's certainly odd to compare the odd spot check and the low chances of an individual driver being subject to one, with a specific requirement for every driver to attend Wolverhampton to obtain a licence.

Anyway, I thought they always made the point that drivers did have to attend a one-day course in Wolverhampton, or whatever.

Of course, there's the vehicle angle as well and the testing stations, which is obviously a bit different.

So maybe the whole badge and plate things are being conflated and confused - that's never happened before

I might have to summon up the effort and have a look at the actual council papers rather than the press summary.

That video Sussex pointed out a few weeks ago was certainly very enlightening

Thanks for that - very interesting (meant to say so back in October, but obviously forgot ).

But that's a very illuminating point. Anyway, was having a look back to confirm whether or not you were right, and that the director's point about the council previously 'visiting' drivers across the country meant what you said it did.

It certainly sounds like it did, having listened to the video of the meeting ('listening' maybe being the most difficult part of the video, because on my laptop I found it difficult to hear the dialogue, and while the visuals were quite good, they were pretty pointless as regards the substance, unless you want to get irritated by the director constantly adjusting his specs )

But the 'taxi' part of the meeting only lasts twenty minutes or so, and starts as per the link below:

The bit about the visits is around 59.00, and is effectively repeated a couple of minutes later in response to a question asking for clarification.

(I've set the video to start thirty seconds or so earlier, because before the 'taxi' stuff the director is speaking about the public sweeping leaves from drains - which says a lot about the way licensing is often approached, but maybe underlines that few of the people here are specialists. That said, although at points I'd forgotten it wasn't actually licensing councillors at the meeting, if it had been licensing councillors then I still wouldn't be surprised at some of the stuff said, as per the example below.)

https://wolverhampton.public-i.tv/core/ ... me/2660000

And predictably pat questions from the councillors, and the whole thing gives the impression the council now just trying to cover its backside in case the brown stuff hits the fan in any way

And, despite the whole thing apparently now representing a 'strategic risk' to the council, to a large extent the council is trying to portray it otherwise, and taking more of the usual blow-own-trumpet/PR/comms approach - listen to the councillor who asks about the plates saying, effectively, that all the stuff in the paper has reassured him about the safety angle. Yet according to the other angle, it's now a risk that has to be rolled back...

On the other hand, I'd forgotten that it's not licensing councillors at the meeting, but actually the Audit and Risk Committee discussing the Strategic Risk Register.

(I think one councillor said that plates were being removed from cars, for example, and something about text messages instead. But it's actually stickers that are coming off the cars (except if there's an 'exclusive relationship', wasn't it? ). The text message thing is about the wider safety protection afforded by electronic/automated booking etc, so the councillor was missing the point spectacularly - in fact, didn't the council say that people should rely more on inspecting the plates, as opposed to the councillor's suggestion that plates are being removed? )

The agenda paper is here, and worth having a read if anyone's interested, and the main part of the paper is only a few pages long. But you have to memorise the list of places they've carried out compliance operations in, which is on the second last page

https://wolverhampton.moderngov.co.uk/d ... 20Risk.pdf

Lots of potential talking points in the agenda paper, but would take too long

All the grief Wolverhampton is getting must eventually take a toll on the politicians.

Are they doing enough, are they f***.

But when anyone ever mentions Wolverhampton those of us in the taxi/PH trade and other local politicians equate that council to a basket case that has abused the licensing system.

A curse on them all.

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IDFIMH