New policy for taxi drivers set to be decided in Wyre

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.
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.

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.”