Express & Star comment: Concerns over taxi licensing

It also underlines the fact that many local authorities feel the need to commercialise their operations in the face of continuing budget cuts.

However, there are a number of issues surrounding the city council’s licensing policy that demand closer examination.

When you consider that the amount of money the authority has brought in from cab licences has increased by £2 million over four years, it is no surprise that there is huge national interest in the issue.

There are now more than 9,000 cab drivers with Wolverhampton licences, and the vast majority of them are not operating in the city.

This raises questions over how well the council is able to monitor drivers who may be working in Weymouth, Stockport or Manchester.

Criticisms have also been voiced over the relative ease with which the council distributes licences.

There have been cases of convicted criminals being allowed licences, while in one case a driver charged with the rape of a passenger in Southampton was sold a Wolverhampton licence.

Meanwhile cab drivers who live and work in the city are finding that work drying up due to increased competition.

Eyebrows were raised a couple of years ago when the authority dropped the local knowledge test for cab drivers.

In hindsight, this now appears to have been initiated with the current system in mind. One thing is for certain, Wolverhampton Council is losing friends hand over foot as a result of its system, which bosses proudly hail as the best in the country.

And among the authority’s critics are other Labour councils, which are understandably concerned about the lack of authority they have over cab drivers with Wolverhampton licences operating in their areas.

There is an argument to suggest that Wolverhampton Council has gone too far in its zeal to make money.

It is not enough for the council to sit back and let the cash roll in while other areas are left to pick up the pieces.

Perhaps bosses need to revisit this system, and look at whether the amount of money it brings in is worth the damage that is being done to the city’s reputation.