New policy for taxi drivers set to be decided in Wyre

By The Newsroom
Published 21st Mar 2018, 09:12 BST
Updated 21st Mar 2018, 10:15 BST
A Sheffield taxi driver was subjected to a terrifying ordeal, when a drunken customer stole his phone and brandished a knife at him, a court heard.A Sheffield taxi driver was subjected to a terrifying ordeal, when a drunken customer stole his phone and brandished a knife at him, a court heard.
A Sheffield taxi driver was subjected to a terrifying ordeal, when a drunken customer stole his phone and brandished a knife at him, a court heard.
Taxi drivers in Wyre will be required to register with the Disclosure and Barring Service's update service, if councillors at the committee meeting agree on a new policy tomorrow.

The council said the move would ensure it has the ‘most up-to-date information about the offending behaviour of the drivers it licences’ after a previous annual check was replaced by a three-yearly one, creating a ‘gap’.

It is one of several proposed changes to the borough’s taxi licensing policy, which went out to a six-week public consultation.

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Other changes put forward included reducing the grace period for drivers who fail to renew from six months to one; making MOTs a requirement, where vehicles are currently exempt if they pass a council taxi test; banning tinted windows to ‘deter unscrupulous drivers’; enforcing basic safeguarding and child safety awareness; and banning the use of vehicles that have previously been classed as written off.

In a report, service director for health and wellbeing Mark Broadhurst said: “Licensed taxi drivers provide an important service for residents and visitors to the borough,who in turn should be confident their driver is a fit and proper person and that the vehicle is safe and suitable.”