Taxi Driver Online

A rare trade-related article in The Times

Certainly an interesting one, though...


Alert system for dangerous taxi drivers is shunned by councils

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/aler ... -8b7jsxvdh

Passengers in taxis are potentially being put at risk from rogue drivers as councils are failing to search a national database containing “vital intelligence” when vetting cabbies, it has been revealed.

Despite having more than 20,000 drivers between them, local authorities in Birmingham, Manchester, Sefton, Newcastle and Liverpool made just one search between them of the National Register of Refusals and Revocations (NR3) database last year, the government said.

The NR3 database is designed to prevent drivers from failing to declare historical licence revocations in other parts of the country. The government believes it is vital to weed out such “bad apples” and reduce the risk of passengers falling victim to predatory behaviour and dangerous driving.

Conservative Party sources reacted furiously, highlighting that the five biggest councils failing to utilise the database were all Labour-run. Richard Holden, the roads minister, released records in parliament that showed Birmingham city council, which has 6,280 registered taxi drivers, made just one search of the register in 2022. Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool city councils failed to consult it at all.

The Times understands that ministers have repeatedly written to local authorities urging them to use the database as part of their due diligence checks. Mark Harper, the transport secretary, is believed to have sent a letter as recently as this week.

The register is designed to prevent rogue drivers from moving to a new council areas after being stripped of their operating licence in another one.

The Local Government Association, which commissioned the National Anti Fraud Network to develop and maintain the register, has previously warned that not using its capabilities means that “vital intelligence about an applicant’s past behaviour is being missed and an individual might be able to get a new licence in another area, despite having one taken away elsewhere.”

In 2019 a taxi driver from Burton upon Trent was caught failing to disclose that his licence had been revoked twice by East Staffordshire borough council when applying for a new licence in North West Leicestershire and South Derbyshire district councils. The driver was found guilty of fraud by false representation at Leicester magistrates’ court.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “The safety of passengers using taxi and private hire vehicles is vital, which is why since 2020 ministers have consistently urged licensing authorities to make use of the database, writing to them again on the topic as recently as this week. We will continue to keep any further potential measures under review.”

All the councils included in the government list of authorities failing to use the database insisted they had their own vetting process. A Birmingham city council spokesman said it followed “a comprehensive vetting process for all driver licence applications for hackney carriage and private hire vehicles, which includes a DBS check, medical check and knowledge test”.

He added: “We are moving to a model where this vetting will include using the National Register of Refusals and Revocations database ... the requirement to populate and use this database is not currently mandatory.”

Newcastle city council said it intended to start using the database after a new internal policy was put in place, and Sefton council said it would comply fully once the requirement to use the database comes into force.

Manchester city council said it had “one of, if not the most stringent licensing regimes for taxis and private hire vehicles in the country”.

A spokesman for Liverpool city council said: “The procedure to apply for a hackney or private taxi drivers’ licence in Liverpool is extremely robust and involves a rigorous six-stage process which has been benchmarked for best practice against other major cities.”

Talk about missing the point spectacularly - the councils defending themselves by reference to their own internal procedures, but of course the database was all about addressing shortcomings in that regard

Or maybe they're avoiding the point rather than missing it.

Maybe it's not possible to access the database from the living room sofa

This is the letter here, via the NALEO's website


DfT Letter - Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022

https://www.naleo.co.uk/node/42

Dear Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Authorities,

On 31 March 2022, the Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022 received Royal Assent. The Act places duties on licensing authorities to improve information-sharing regarding taxi and private hire vehicle drivers. Some of the duties came into force on 31 May 2022. My department has been working to bring the remaining duties which require licensing authorities to use a licensing information database to record refusals, suspensions and revocations of taxi and private hire vehicle driver licences into force. The Act enables me to either provide the database or to designate a person to do so.

I am pleased to announce that my department has reached an agreement to designate the National Anti-Fraud Network as the database provider under Section 4(1)(a) of the Act. The National Anti-Fraud Network’s database, the National Register for Revocations, Refusals and Suspensions (NR3S), has been in use successfully for several years and use of it is recommended in the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards which licensing authorities must have regard to. As a result, the vast majority of licensing authorities, including your own, already have access to the NR3S.

Furthermore, to assist with this new mandatory requirement, I am pleased to announce that my department is covering the cost of access to the NR3S. All licensing authorities will be given access to the NR3S for free. If your authority is not consistently using the NR3S, you should review your processes to enable your authority to comply with the law when it comes into effect.

I intend to commence the remaining provisions of the Act on 27 April 2023 to give those final few authorities who do not currently have access to the NR3S time to put the appropriate processes in place. When the remaining duties on licensing authorities come into force, all licensing authorities will be required to use the NR3S to record taxi and private hire vehicle driver licences that have been refused, suspended or revoked for safeguarding or road safety reasons. The statutory guidance issued to licensing authorities in May 2022 to support them in complying with the Act will be updated to reflect these new duties.

Finally, I would like to thank those licensing authorities who have been actively using the NR3S in recent years on a voluntary basis. This has ensured that more authorities have more of the information needed to make correct decisions to effectively regulate the taxi and private hire vehicle trades and protect the travelling public.

If you need any assistance relating to accessing or using the NR3S, please contact licencehelp@nafn.gov.uk. For queries relating to the Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022, please contact my officials at TaxisandPHVs@dft.gov.uk

From the Secretary of State

The Rt Hon Mark Harper MP

Great Minster House
33 Horseferry Road
London
SW1P 4DR

Tel: 0300 330 3000
E-Mail: mark.harper@dft.gov.uk
Web site: http://www.gov.uk/dft

Couldn't agree more.

One has to wonder if those councils that have not used the database to vet drivers have also not used it to update the database on drivers who have lost their licenses for iffy reasons.

_________________
IDFIMH