Taxi Driver Online

Annual checks on cabbies in Stroud district to be scrapped


TAXI drivers will have criminal record checks once every three years, after Stroud District Council scrapped annual checks to cut costs.

Councillors agreed at a licensing and regulation committee meeting that it would be sufficient to run CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks on hackney carriage and private hire taxi drivers once every three years to save the authority £7,000 each year.

They said that since cabbies were expected to notify the licensing officer if they incurred any convictions, there should be no need to run the checks each year.

The changes were made after members of the Stroud Taxi Association complained that the charges for CRB checks, which have increased significantly in the last year, were being passed on to them.

The checks increased from £12 to £30 last year and rose again this year to £36.

Previously the district council met the costs of the checks on behalf of the taxi drivers, but as the price of the CRB checks went up they passed the cost onto the drivers, which led to the taxi association asking the council to reduce CRB checks to once every three years.

John Symonds, secretary of the Stroud Taxi Association, said: "When we were asked to start paying £36 a year we said hang on a minute we can’t pay for that every year. We are just trying to bring the costs down for our drivers.

"We are very happy with the situation now, paying to renew licences can get very expensive."

However the reduction in checks has called into question whether a taxi licence will now be a seal of approval that the driver is safe and clear of criminal convictions.

A spokesman for Victim Support, a national charity helping those affected by crime, said: "People are advised to take a licensed taxi rather than an unlicensed taxi, and many use the driver’s licence as a quality mark.

"Any step that takes away these safety measures and checks is potentially an issue, but we wouldn’t outright condemn it because it’s not possible to tell whether it will or will not work in practice."

A spokesman for Stroud District Council said: "It is crucial that we protect our residents' safety and conditions attached to the licence enable us to make sure that taxi drivers are adequately monitored.

"Requiring applicants to submit a CRB Discourse every three years is in line with government guidance and neighbouring local authorities.

"Taxi and private hire users can feel reassured that we put all taxi vehicles and drivers through thorough checks and if necessary will take positive action to protect the well-being of our residents in the unusual event that drivers breach the terms of their licence."

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