T FICTION...FACT NOT FICTION
Then we were advised of a BBC News item that went out on YouTube immediately following the release of the Gov- ernment response and draft Statutory Guidance. Viewers are shown visual coverage of licensing officers checking licensed vehicles in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; you are then shown ‘mug shots’ of taxi/PHV drivers who had been con- victed of rape and similar crimes during 2017; the voiceover also announces that 29 drivers had their licences revoked last year. This is followed by the voiceover announcing the fact that “all taxi and private hire drivers are to be subject to enhanced criminal record checks.”
I have submitted the following complaint to the BBC:
“It is my belief that the news item [details given] which was made available on 12 February 2019 is seriously biased against the taxi and private hire industry. In partic- ular the segment featuring the current practices of the licensing department in Newcastle upon Tyne was extremely biased to the point of sensationalism, in light of the release of the Government response to the Task and Finish report on taxi/PHV licensing. It featured the fact that 18 drivers [in that district] had been convicted of sex- ual crimes in 2017 and 29 had their licences revoked last year. This was followed by the announcement that crimi- nal record checks would be mandatory for all licensed drivers. In fact licensed drivers throughout the UK have been subject to enhanced criminal record checks since 2002.
“We wish to point out that in the Newcastle licensing dis- trict there are nearly 4,000 licensed drivers and over 3,000 licensed vehicles; therefore to feature that particu- lar group of drivers who hard committed crimes and revocable offences is focusing on less than seven per cent of the licensed taxi/PHV trade in the district. As director of the National Private Hire and Taxi Association, editor of the national trade newspaper Private Hire and Taxi Month- ly, and one of the members of the Task and Finish group whose report has just been responded to by Government, I wanted to register my anger and disdain at the portrayal of the industry generically in this news report. We are proud of our trade and wanted to register that fact. I look forward to your considered response. Thank you.”
We’ll let you know if we get a response.
If anybody needs to have it reinforced just how proud of the trade we are, check out this month’s Unsung Heroes fea- ture. We’ve said it before: this kind of reporting never makes the headlines; only the scaremongering, sensational (and incorrect) stuff about CCTV and DBS checks. And yet week after week, taxi and PHV drivers involve themselves in selfless tasks to assist the public – whether they are passen- gers or just people they come across in their travels. Over the past 18 months PHTM has been full of such stories, especially following the terrorist atrocities when drivers all over the country gave of their time and services to assist no end of people in distress. That’s the kind of reporting we prefer to relay; it’s all about telling the truth and showing the world how great our drivers are on a daily basis.
Even within the news circulating around the industry, state- ments have been made such as: “The Government’s response to the Task and Finish report will be out to con- sultation for ten weeks…”
The official statement from the Department for Transport has been set out in our report on the Government response to the Task and Finish report in this edition of PHTM
So to clarify, it is the draft Statutory Guidance that is out to consultation for ten weeks, until 22 April; the Government response is a “done deal”, and some – but not all – of the issues will go out to consultation in due course.
We wanted to stress this point, and to differentiate once and for all between the two Government documents. As for responding to the draft Statutory Guidance, the DfT says “the more, the merrier!” So now is the time to get stuck in and give Government first hand information as to what is going on out there on the streets, and your views on any and every aspect of that guidance. You can fill in the con- sultation questionnaire online.
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/taxi-and-private- hire-vehicle-licensing-protecting-users
Meanwhile, if any PHTM reader has a concern about any- thing you read, or hear on broadcast media, about this industry - please get in touch. WE’LL GIVE YOU THE FACTS – NOT FICTION
0161 280 2800
donnadale.npha@
btconnect.com
PROUD OF OUR TRADE MARCH 2019 45
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