Work under way to cut Wolverhampton taxi licence applications

Ten years ago, the authority licensed around 1,200 drivers, but following de-regulation, the number exploded to more than 45,000, working in towns as far afield as Blackpool and Southampton.

Following sex abuse cases where licensed taxis were implicated the council now wants to deter applications in a bid to limit possible reputational damage.

A report for the council’s latest meeting of its Audit and Risk Committee found that as the number of licensees increases, so does the likelihood of a serious issue.

The report added: “There have been serious child sex exploitation scandals revealed in Rotherham and Telford, which involved taxi drivers.

“Licensed vehicles provide a ‘camouflage’ which allows vehicles to traffic vulnerable people, as well as the offer of free trips for grooming.”

John Roseblade, director of resident services, told the committee: “There are pieces of work to try to throttle back the number of applications we are receiving.

“One of which is that there used to be a requirement we would visit drivers, now we require drivers to attend Wolverhampton, which is designed to discourage people.”

The Deregulation Act 2015 allowed taxi operators to subcontract bookings out to other firms licensed by other authorities, whereas previously, they could only use companies from the same area.

The change coincided with major improvements in how Wolverhampton licensed drivers, making it one of the fastest services in the country.

While in some areas it could take up to four months to get a licence, Wolverhampton’s digital system was fast and efficient which caused a boom in applications.

The law also meant the authority was not allowed to turn down applications just because they were from outside Wolverhampton.

The council can only spend funds raised from fees on private hire licensing rather than general expenditure so, as numbers rose, the extra income was used for more upgrades and to cut charges – making the service even more attractive.

To maintain high safeguarding and safety standards, the council is spending the cash on a system which checks every driver’s DBS certificate status every day, airport style facial recognition software to process new applicants and officers carrying out hundreds of safety checks in all parts of the country.