Taxi Driver Online

I won't be voting for Reform (in fact I won't be voting for anyone), but this smacks of the council playing party politics. As for the Labour MP...

I mean, they're basically endorsing what he's saying, but just saying that it doesn't happen nowadays, and when it happened in the past it's OK because nothing happened

The Reform councillor's statement is a bit OTT, but the reaction seems a bit OTT in the other direction

And not sure if the PHD v taxi terminology here has any significance, but I suspect all the politicians involved are pretty clueless anyway


Reform UK councillor told to apologise for saying some taxi drivers have 'dangerous criminal histories'

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/loc ... e-10707648

The councillor found that 13 taxi licences had been issued to people with convictions over the past 10 years

A Reform UK councillor is being told to apologise for describing some of his area's taxi drivers as having "dangerous criminal histories" after he questioned why some had been granted a licence.

The councillor is still demanding a full review of all taxi licences after he found that over the last 10 years, 12 private hire licences had been granted for people with convictions for violent offences and one for someone with a conviction for a sexual offence.

The figures relate to licences issued by Bassetlaw District Council and the figures were provided by the authority in September 2024.

Councillor Fraser McFarland asked for an update on the figure at a recent council meeting and it was confirmed that a further two licences had been granted in the last 12 months to applicants with convictions.

Councillor McFarland, who serves as the leader of the opposition on Bassetlaw District Council for the Reform group, wrote after the new figures were confirmed: "That means at least 15 people with dangerous criminal histories have been approved to carry passengers across our district.

"Let me be clear. This is unacceptable. It is unsafe. And it cannot continue.

"No resident should ever get into a private hire vehicle worrying whether the person driving them has a history of violence or sexual offending.

"The fact that this is happening and has been allowed to continue represents a serious failure of oversight and judgement within the licensing system."

Councillor McFarland has repeatedly clashed with Bassetlaw District Council - with the authority having recently spent £19,000 on an investigation into comments he made about asylum seekers.

The authority has now rebuked Councillor McFarland again, saying in a statement: "It is important that Councillor McFarland's comments do not undermine the wider taxi industry in Bassetlaw and cast any doubt over the legitimacy of all taxi drivers in our district, especially during what will be one of their busiest times of the year."

Bassetlaw's Labour MP Jo White has also called for an apology, having written to local taxi firms and said: "The suggestion that our hardworking local taxi drivers are a risk to the public is a disgrace.

"I know that local taxi firms carefully consider who they employ and they would never allow someone to work for them who presents a risk to the public."

Bassetlaw District Council now says that its policy does not allow the licensing committee to grant a licence to anyone with a previous sexual offence conviction.

The authority also says it does not issue a taxi licence to anyone who has committed a serious violent offence within the last 10 years, or within 10 years of the end of their sentence.

Bassetlaw currently licences 142 active taxi drivers and of the 15 licences in question, only five are now active drivers and their historical convictions were committed and spent between 10 and 33 years ago.

The council added: "There have been no complaints or allegations made to us by the public or by the police regarding these drivers.

"We take public safety extremely seriously and want to reassure the public that anyone providing a licensed taxi service in Bassetlaw has been through a rigorous and stringent application process, which includes Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and mandatory safeguarding training."

Pure posturing. I mean, the council making hay now with their 'safety is paramount' schtick, but what's the point of council licensing at all if the local firms can be left to self-regulate, as this MP seems to be claiming?

And don't get me started on her party, the rape gangs, Wolverhampton, blah, blah

For what it's worth, this is the full council statement, which smacks of the council getting a bit too involved in party politics, purely because it's about a Reform councillor. They've even got a wee graphic thingy to go along with it.

In fact, appropriate that it's just appeared in the press at the same time as the Southend council statement on the Uber application, because there are obvious parallels between the two





We are aware of a social media post published by Cllr Fraser McFarland in relation to Bassetlaw District Council’s Licensing Committee and the approach that is taken when dealing with applicants that have previous convictions for sexual or violent offences.

Please read the statement below.

A spokesperson for Bassetlaw District Council said:

“We strongly reject Cllr Fraser McFarland’s statements regarding the issue of Taxi Driver’s Licences in Bassetlaw and that decisions made by Licensing Committee have put anyone’s safety at risk.

“Bassetlaw District Council’s policy does not allow the committee to grant a Taxi Licence to any individual with a previous conviction for a sexual offence, does not license any driver whose name appears on the Sex Offender’s Register, and does not license any individual who has been barred from working with children and adults.

“The Council does not issue a Taxi Licence to anyone who has committed a ‘serious’ violent offence in the last 10 years, or within 10 years of the end of their sentence.

“We take public safety extremely seriously and want to reassure the public that anyone providing a licensed taxi service in Bassetlaw has been through a rigorous and stringent application process, which includes Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and mandatory safeguarding training. Any updates to existing driver’s DBS records are flagged on a daily basis for review by the Council’s Licensing Department.

“The Council currently licenses 142 active taxi drivers. Of the 15 licences that have been referenced by Cllr McFarland, there are just five active drivers who have historical convictions.

“All of these offences were committed and spent between 10 and 33 years ago and are not defined as ‘serious’ by our policy. There have been no complaints or allegations made to us by the public or by the Police regarding these drivers.

“Licensing Committee is a non-political, cross-party committee that has representation from all Bassetlaw District Council political parties.

“The committee has a legal duty to consider the safety of the public when determining an application and operates in line with its policies, which themselves follow a strict national legislative framework.

“Where an applicant has a previous conviction for any offence, including after the 10-year period has passed for a ‘serious’ violent offence, each application is considered individually by the committee and is based on a range of evidence, which could include information from the Disclosure and Barring Service, the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

“Should there be any doubt as to the applicant being a fit and proper person, the committee will not grant an application.

“It is important that Cllr McFarland’s comments do not undermine the wider taxi industry in Bassetlaw and cast any doubt over the legitimacy of all taxi drivers in our district, especially during what will be one of their busiest times of the year.”

lets hope those words don't come back to bite her in the ass !

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

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IDFIMH

Wonder how many Bassetlaw Councilors have a conviction.

Meant to say earlier, a council statement like this is odd enough in the first place, but I can't recall anything similar posted as an official news release, also on the council's twitter account and on the council's Facebook page, and very unusually also on LinkedIn

And who knows where else? And I was looking at the Reform councillor's Facebook page, and the council's official Facebook account had also posted the statement as a comment in response to one of his Facebook posts...

Which suggests a degree of hypersensitivity on the part of both the MP Jo White, and the council itself. And there's very probably an overlap there in terms of the Labour Party, and because Jo White was a councillor there for a decade or so, and rose to the status of deputy leader. Thus a degree of defensiveness is only to be expected.

Doesn't take long to discover a bit of a back-story via Google, and this is just the bare bones - potentially a very deep rabbit hole

But back at the beginning of year, the Reform councillor was posting about how disappointed he was that Jo White MP had voted against a national grooming gang inquiry. Later she wrote a piece in the Telegraph (which is odd enough in itself for a Labour MP) accusing Keir Starmer of 'pussyfooting around' with regard to various issues and, in particular:


Of course, there's a lot of skullduggery and political machinations surrounding the whole rape/grooming gangs inquiry thing, and I'd guess her defensiveness about all this local taxi stuff at the moment is based on that kind of thing.

Also, the specific drivers that they're on about were granted badges historically, and not in more recent years, so that coincides more with her time as a senior councillor.

But for anyone actually interested in the fine detail of these issues (as opposed to politicking and posturing) her claim that it's all good locally because she's written to local taxi firms and they've told her it's all fine and dandy is a complete clanger, in my opinion at least

But at least the licensing committee itself is, er, non-political

And, for what it's worth, these are some of the graphics posted on Facebook by the Reform councillor - in effect this whole thing has been rumbling on for months

I am with the Reform councillor ,these incidents should be highlighted it lets the public know what the politicians have
allowed to be licensed to be taxi drivers.

The sexual offence one raises questions .