Government strengthens taxi licensing checks to protect passengers

The Department for Transport announced new measures on 27 April to tighten the checks on taxi and PHV drivers by local authorities in England. Councils will now be required to record the details of taxi and PHV drivers in a national database, who have had their licences removed for misconduct. The compulsory use of the national database, which is already used voluntarily by some local authorities, aims to prevent drivers found guilty of misconduct from applying for a replacement licence elsewhere in the country. The Department for Transport will monitor the use of the database going forward and could bring legal action where councils fail in their responsibility to conduct the relevant checks.