Taxi licensing changes "could put children at risk of sexual exploitation": LGA

Government plans to relax laws on who may drive taxis could put children at greater risk of sexual exploitation in the wake of the Rotherham scandal.

That warning has come from the Local Government Association over government proposals in the Deregulation Bill, due to be debated in the House of Lords in October.

The LGA said these would allow minicab licence holders to permit other people to drive their vehicle when they are off-duty without any of the checks required for minicab drivers having been made.

These checks cover a person’s suitability for a licence, including criminal records and their medical history.

The LGA noted that reports into child sexual exploitation in both Rotherham and Rochdale had found abusers used their minicabs to target vulnerable children.

But the deregulation measure could see someone with a serious criminal background become an ‘off duty’ driver and use a minicab to target vulnerable children, said Ann Lucas, chair of the LGA’s safer and stronger communities board.

She said: “Recent child sex abuse cases in Rotherham and Rochdale are a stark reminder of the position of trust that people put in taxi drivers and the vulnerability of some passengers.

“There is a determination across local government that nothing like this can be allowed to happen again. That is why we remain deeply concerned about the Government’s plan to relax taxi licensing laws which we believe will make it easier for criminal gangs to target vulnerable children for sexual exploitation.”

Both the taxi trade and the National Association of Licensing and Enforcement officers have opposed the clauses, with the latter saying they would involve “lessening the safety of the public at large by allowing unlicensed drivers to drive licensed vehicles”.

Then transport minister Stephen Hammond told Parliament in May that the Government would not bring forward a specific Taxi Bill and “the measures which the government intends to take forward within the Deregulation Bill represent an ideal opportunity to make a real-world difference to the businessmen and women who make up the taxi and private hire vehicle trades”.

National Secretary Anne Aspinwall said: “The views expressed....mirror those of NALEO and we believe several of the trades' own associations share those valid concerns. 

“In the absence of the extra powers for local authorities arising from the Law Commission proposals, these Deregulation Bill clauses seem to be not fit for purpose and do not appear to be thoroughly thought out if their intent is to better protect the travelling public at large.”

Aspinwall added: “NALEO has worked long and hard with the Law Commission and other stake holders and believes that these deregulation clauses should be withdrawn in favour of the Law Commission's proposals being adopted and progressed in the next Parliament.”

Mark Smulian