Taxi Driver Online

Taxi drivers may 'operate illegally'

THERE are fears Peterborough could be flooded with unlicensed taxis after it emerged that one in three drivers have not renewed their licence. With just over two weeks left for drivers to apply for a new licence, 268 of the 884 licensed drivers in the city have still not made their move.

Taxi enforcement officer for Peterborough City Council, Darren Dolby, said: "We are concerned that drivers who have not completed the licence renewal process will either be unable to work or will be tempted to operate illegally.

"This is a serious issue, because operating without a licence will invalidate their vehicle insurance and endanger the compensation rights of their passengers and other road users. "If the remaining drivers fail to renew their licences quickly, there could be a 30 per cent reduction in the number of Hackney cabs and private hire cars available to residents."

However, Mahmood Khan, chairman of the Peterborough Hackney Carriage Federation, said many drivers were unable to apply for their renewals as they were still waiting for police checks to come back.

He said: "I got my licence renewed last Tuesday, but a lot of the Criminal Record Bureau checks are taking a long time to come back. "There are drivers who are desperate to renew their licence, but may be forced off the road if the checks are not back in time."

If drivers do not renew their licences by August 31, they will have to apply as a new applicant and pay for tests and medical examinations. Mr Khan added: "If there are drivers who just haven't bothered applying because they are lazy, then I have no sympathy for them. But the majority are waiting for police checks and it could affect their jobs and livelihood."

Mr Khan also questioned why Peterborough drivers had to get police checks every year, unlike many councils, where drivers renew every two years. He said: "Why is Peterborough different? If someone is convicted of an offence then just take their taxi licence away from them. There is no need to check every year."

This year the renewal fee increased for the first time in three years – by £5 to £95.

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IDFIMH

Sorry have I got this right, all the drivers have to re-license at the same time.

And what is the point of yearly CRB checks?

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IDFIMH

What a load of nonsense. With over 2 weeks to go, I'm surprised any have applied at all

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

lol Experiance tells me from my observations in this authority that most people apply at the last minute. I suspect it is more or less the same in the rest of the country.

Regards

JD

Theres been a similar story in the Dundee papers for as many years as Ican remember.

All the plates are renewed at the same time (31st May) so each year theres an advert in the Tele and a story along the lines of the Peterborough ones.

Theres usually a few forget each year, and then they give the committee some sob story and the councillors huff and puff but give them a plate anyway, since they would suffer hardship or something like that - no mention of all the other drivers suffering hardship because they cant get a plate at all.

Its a bit different now, because its not hardship through not running a taxi at all, its hardship because they would have to run a wav

The forgetful operators are probably just hiring the plate out, so they leave running the car to the driver, and then forget what time of year it is

In other capped areas, do taxi owners forget to apply before the deadline, and what happens if they do?

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Dundee rocks. Almost.

I just find it plain daft to license all the vehicles at the same time.

As to what happens when they forget, down here they get a month or two to get the vehicle re-licensed, but of course they can't (or are not meant to) use it.

It has been known to suspend a vehicle license (in a good way, not an iffy way), so maybe it could be done for more than a couple of months.

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IDFIMH