The BBC investigation programme Inside Out has discovered that individuals with criminal convictions are being licensed to operate as taxi drivers.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, the programme contacted councils and police authorities in the West Midlands, finding out that over the past three years, 209 people with criminal convictions have been given a taxi licence, despite the appropriate criminal record checks.
This is very surprising, as taxi insurance is notoriously hard to get if a prospective driver has a criminal record. The insurer is unlikely to provide cover, or there will be a large increase in the premium.
Inside Out discovered a taxi driver in Wolverhampton who between 1985 and 2005 had carried out more than 30 offences. Just a year after his last conviction, he was deemed acceptable to receive his licence.
BBC News reported that a spokesman for Wolverhampton City Council said the licensing of private hire and hackney carriages was taken seriously despite the programmes findings, stating, ‘The council has received no complaints regarding this driver since the private licence was granted in 2006′.
Councils tend to follow Department of Transport guidelines when licensing drivers and there are no hard and fast rules about who can become a driver. A spokesman for the National Taxi Association commented that people with previous convictions had their applications decided on merit.
Despite this, there have been over 250 crimes carried out by licensed taxi drivers in the past three years, ranging from assault to rape and threats to kill.
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