Sam Carling, Labour MP for North West Cambridgeshire, has successfully campaigned for national minimum standards for taxi licensing to be introduced across England.
At present, loopholes allow many taxi drivers to operate anywhere in the country regardless of which local council has issued them with a license – meaning councils don’t have effective control over the standards expected of taxi drivers in their area.
Some councils require drivers to undergo DBS checks, to have CCTV in vehicles, or to undergo stronger safeguarding training. But due to the practice of out-of-area licensing, unscrupulous drivers can register under authorities which have laxer standards, and get around stricter rules.
This penalises drivers who do the right thing and register locally, as they may face higher costs, while reducing passenger safety – either through lower standards, or because alleged incidents have to be investigated by the council which issued the taxi license. That may be halfway across the country, with a large proportion of drivers registered in Wolverhampton in particular. Over-stretched, distant councils cannot effectively carry out investigations into incidents like this.
The Government has now announced that the law will be changed, with national minimum licensing standards being introduced to reduce the problems.
Carling’s lobbying for this change was specifically credited in the announcement speech. The Minister also highlighted that the Government will be consulting on further options to limit out-of-area licensing, including moving taxi licensing powers from councils to mayors that cover larger areas.
Sam Carling MP, Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire, said:
“It’s great news that the Government has listened to me and the people across Peterborough and Huntingdonshire who are concerned about this. National minimum standards, as well as possible further measures to end out-of-area licensing, will make a huge difference for passengers, and for local taxi drivers who want to do the right thing but have been undermined for too long.
“I’ll now be pushing to make sure the new standards provide fairness for drivers and improve safety for passengers – with fair national requirements for CCTV being a key potential part of that.”
Speaking in the debate in Parliament where the changes were announced, Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, Minister for Devolution, Faith and Communities, said:
“I am glad to see that MPs welcome the steps we are taking to put in place minimum standards. The minimum standards are an important first step, and we will build on them. We will consult on licensing becoming the responsibility of local transport authorities [mayors] to improve regulation … we absolutely hear the point that this is urgent and we need to act.”