New guidelines aim to ensure Bolton taxi drivers are 'safe and suitable' BOLTON Council has produced new guidance to make sure taxi drivers in the borough are 'fit and proper' people.
The authority has carried out a review of its policy on providing licences to both private hire and hackney carriage drivers, which will help to decide if a person qualifies as appropriate to drive such a vehicle in Bolton or operate a private hire business in the town.
The guidance takes into account a range of different issues including the previous convictions, cautions and warnings of anyone applying for a licence.
There is also a large section dedicated to matters concerning safeguarding and Child Sexual Exploitation.
The guidance — which also applies to social needs transport — states: “Licence holders are in a unique position of trust and are often in one to one contact with children, young persons and vulnerable adults.
“They often have custody of property belonging to others, or have knowledge which might facilitate crime.”
In the statement, the council has stated that it is committed to ensuring that anyone operating a private hire or hackney carriage vehicle in Bolton are both “safe and suitable” and that the public are not exposed to anyone with “a history of dishonesty, indecency or violence” or any other offence or inappropriate behaviour.
The guidance stresses that one key aim is to make sure that the safety of children, young people and vulnerable adults is protected.
When it comes to applicants with convictions, cautions or other formal action against their name, the council will consider aspects including the nature of any offence, when it was committed, the individual’s age when the offence was committed and whether or not it represents a pattern of behaviour.
A spokesman for Bolton Council said: “Following changes to legislation and to support safeguarding we have undertaken a review of the policy applied to the licensing of both private hire and hackney carriage.
“The new statement of fitness and suitability sets out a range of information and factors, which will be considered by the licensing committee when deciding whether an applicant or licence holder is a ‘fit and proper person’ to drive a private hire or hackney carriage — or operate a private hire business. The policy will also apply to social needs transport.”
Operators and drivers have said they are in broad agreement with the guidance, but believe more work needs to be done to make the process more "efficient" and to protect drivers.
Nick Astley runs Bolton's biggest private hire firm, Metro, he said: "There has always been guidance in place and I think the council have tweaked it and perhaps made it more apparent and clear.
"Obviously passenger safety is paramount for all of us and anyone driving a taxi should be a fit and proper person, anything that improves that has got to be welcomed."
He added: "I think that the only problem comes with the amount of time it can take for drivers to be checked and cleared, which can leave them off the road and struggling.
"If that process could be speeded up and made more efficient, particularly for drivers who have years of experience, that would be ideal."
Yasif Khan is the secretary of the Bolton Private Hire Association, he said: "We are currently looking into this new guidance and talking to our members about it.
"We are in agreement with much of it and of course believe that everything should be done to make sure passengers are kept safe.
"But there are some things we are not happy about, we feel sometimes drivers are being punished and having their badges taken and names published before there is any evidence that they have done anything wrong.
"Of course if a driver is convicted of an offence, they should be punished and named and shamed - but the council shouldn't act as judge, jury and executioner if there is no proper evidence."
source:
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/144 ... suitable_/
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