NOTTINGHAM:


A taxi driver who has held a British passport since 1986 has been told he needs a foreign criminal record check before he can operate in part of Notts. Deepak Amar, of Woodthorpe, was born in India but has lived in the UK for 32 years. He already has a pri- vate hire licence from Nottingham


City


Council but recently applied for both a hackney carriage and a private hire licence from Gedling Borough Council. The 57-year-old submit- ted documents in- cluding a DVLA check and a CRB check.


But the council said it could not be satisfied he was “a fit and prop- er person” to hold the licence unless he obtained a criminal background check from India. “This is crazy,” Mr Amar told This is Not- tingham.


“I


ROUNDTHE... WAKEFIELD:


DRIVER BLASTS ‘CRAZY’ REDTAPE am


shocked. I feel like I am being treated as a crim- inal. It seems crazy to ask for a reference from 32 years ago.” The council says it is standard procedure to ask for checks from anybody who has lived abroad for more than six months since the age of 18. Kevin Nealon, the coun-


cil’s community pro- tection and pollution control manager, said: “We take our public safety responsibilities very seriously and con- sidering what we are asking in this case, I don’t think we are being unreasonable.” But the practice has been branded “unsat- isfactory” by


the


Association of Notting- hamshire Private Hire Operators and Drivers, “strange” by D&G Cars and “bureaucra- cy gone mad” by N02ID - the national, non-partisan


cam-


paign group opposing ID cards and a Nation- al Identity Register.


SHEFFIELD: ‘SPIES’TODRIVEUNLAWFULMINICABSOFF ROADS


Undercover licensing officers are to be used more widely on busy evenings to catch ille- gal private hire drivers after increasing num- bers of offenders were found breaking the law. Sheffield Council said it planned to “deploy more covert opera- tives’’ in the city centre to combat the problem, which has seen drivers from other areas come to the city at night. The city’s chief licens- ing officer Steven Lonnia said a “large number” of drivers from the north Der- byshire and Rother- ham areas often ille- gally plied for hire in Sheffield. Mr Lonnia’s staff have now drawn up a new, tough policy, which is set to be endorsed by the city’s licensing committee, suggesting that all drivers caught are prosecuted. Mr Lonnia said that as well as prosecution, offenders would have licences revoked per- manently.


PAGE 44


He told the Yorkshire Post: “The greatest danger to the public is from vehicles and driv- ers that hold no licences at all as they will not have under- gone any of the usual tests of checks. “The drivers may have criminal convictions and their intentions may be solely to engage in serious criminal activity like sexual offences or robbery. “But the largest prob- lem in Sheffield in recent years has been the large number of North East Derbyshire and


Rotherham


licensed private hire vehicle drivers ille- gally plying for hire.” Mr Lonnia said his offi- cers had already taken to the streets on Fri- day and Saturday evenings in a bid to warn people of the dangers of using ille- gal cabs. But this approach had not been well received by the people they had been trying to help, with some revellers


turning on council staff in anger. The licensing boss added: “Public atti- tudes to the dangers of illegal plying for hire are a significant prob- lem. Most will accept there


are risks


involved in getting into a vehicle that is not a taxi or a pre-booked PHV and yet late at night many people seem prepared to jump into any vehicle that comes their way. “Licensing officers have, on occasion, intervened to warn un- accompanied women not to get into unli- censed vehicles. “Unfortunately most


the common


response is that they don’t care - they just want to get home. A not uncommon res- ponse is abuse.” The costs of bringing increased prosecu- tions and carrying out more enforcement will be met by the revenue the council makes from providing licences to legitimate drivers, Mr Lonnia said.


CABBIES FACETOUGHCHECKS


Tighter restrictions will make it tougher for criminals to work as taxi drivers. According to the Wake- field Express, Wakefield Council’s


licensing


committee approved a new policy making it tougher


for drivers


with criminal convic- tions to get private hire or hackney carriage


licences from the begin- ning of next July. Perverting the course of justice, sex and immigration offences would cause drivers to lose their licences. And the policy also means taxi drivers can have their licences suspended immedi- ately if


they are reported for picking


up passengers without advance bookings. The licensing report said the policy had been amended for public safety and to make the restrictions more “robust”. A 12-week consulta- tion on the policy was carried out between January and April of this year.


EASTHERTS: CONSULTATIONONHIGHMILEAGETAXIS NOTDECIDED


In last month’s PHTM we ran an article which emanated from the Hertfordshire Mer- cury, saying that taxis that have clocked up more than 250,000 miles will no longer be licensed. Subsequently we had a conversation with East Hertfordshire Council, who put us straight: in fact, the


consultation on the issue was just closing, so no decision has yet been made. The


came about because the


council was


attempting to find other ways of moni- toring


licensed


vehicles besides a blanket age restric- tion, so they were looking into the pos-


HARLOW: CABCHECKSAFETYAPP LAUNCHED


A new smartphone app which allows peo- ple to check whether or not their taxi is properly licensed has been launched by Har- low Council. Designed to improve safety and crack down on unlicensed mini- cabs, Taxi Check Live uses the phone’s data connection to link directly to the authori- ty’s licensing system. Once downloaded, the software checks any vehicle’s registration number against a comprehensive data- base of black cabs and private hire vehi- cles


licensed to


operate in Harlow. If a green tick appears the vehicle is legiti- mate but a red cross indicates the cab is


not currently licensed by the authority. Cllr Ian Beckett, chair- man of the council’s licensing committee, told the Harlow Star: “We are using mobile phone technology to give residents and vis- itors the peace of mind that they are using a licensed taxi or private hire vehicle in Harlow. “We are always work- ing with local taxi and private hire compa- nies to maintain high standards and this is another way of mak- ing people feel safe when


travelling


around the town.” The new software, which has been devel- oped in-house by the council’s ICT and licensing teams, has


also been welcomed by police. Harlow Chief Inspec- tor Ben Hodder said: “We fully support any project which keeps the community safe. “The Taxi Check Live system is another tool in which people can receive information quickly to enable them to make a reliable informed


then and there on their personal safety.” Mmmm… This should be far more effective and beneficial than a sticker on the back of the vehicle saying “How is my driving?” – which is imposed on its licence holders by one council that we know of. Anything that promotes public safety has to be a goer. – Ed.


PHTM JULY 2012 consultation


sibility of setting a mileage ceiling. This consultation has now closed, but of course the relevant Commit- tee has to vote on any resolution(s)


that


result from such con- sultation. We shall be liaising with the council and will publish the out- come when it has been voted in.


decision


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