Taxi licensing shake-up planned amid fears cabbies with criminal convictions could target Harrogate district for work

Chris Doyle, licensing enforcement officer at the borough council, this week told a meeting the "wrong" taxi drivers could be targeting work in the district because its 10-year-old policies have fallen behind more robust rules introduced elsewhere in Yorkshire.

Now, the local authority is to consult on its plans for a taxi licensing shake-up which would make it harder for would-be cabbies to get permission to work.

Mr Doyle said in a report: "Should the council not make their policy more robust and replicate policies of other neighbouring local authorities there is a real danger that the authority could receive a large quantity of applications from drivers that have been refused a licence elsewhere.

"As the current policy stands there may be no grounds for refusal which would have a negative impact on public safety.

"A driver has significant power over a passenger who places themselves and their personal safety in the driver’s hands.

"This means that the council is entitled and bound to treat the safety of the public as the paramount consideration and this must always take precedent over a driver’s right to work."

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Mr Doyle also said that toughening regulation was part of efforts to make the rules consistent across the region.

But when the proposals were put before Harrogate's licensing committee, councillors raised concerns that some drivers with criminal records may have already "slipped through the net."

This was so much so that Coun Robert Windass (Con, Boroughbridge) called for the planned four-week consultation to be completely scrapped and the rules enforced straight away.

He said: "As Mr Doyle has said, the protection of the public is paramount. But why do we have to go out to consultation - it is for the protection of the public and we need to make sure we have respectable drivers in the town and district."

Coun Windass also said all new taxi license applications should be frozen until the new rules are enforced, but neither of his calls could be agreed for legal reasons.

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Instead, the committee voted in favour of launching the consultation on the local rule changes, where members of the public and cabbies can all express their opinion.

Should the new policy come into being, the council will continue to look at "the entirety of the individual" and still refuse applicants with serious offences.

But the bar will be lowered for less serious offences including driving whilst using a handheld device or without insurance.

For example, under current rules, a driver with seven or more points on their license will be judged individually, but the proposed policies will enforce a strict three-year revoke of their license.

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The report from Mr Doyle added: "Taxis and private hire vehicles are used by almost everyone but are used regularly by vulnerable groups including; children, the elderly, disabled people and the intoxicated.

"A driver has significant power over a passenger who places themselves and their personal safety in the driver’s hands. Therefore the standards of safety and suitability are set high to give the public the assurance it requires when using taxi and private hire services."

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter