Licensed drivers halved amid ‘licence shopping’ claim

The number of drivers licensed in Newcastle-under-Lyme has dropped by 47% – a decrease the council put down to having tighter rules than other local authorities.

The BBC reported that licensing laws allow drivers to gain licences with other councils but still operate in their home area.

Members of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council’s public protection committee claimed the system meant authorities were effectively being “punished” for having higher standards.

The council is working on its response to a government consultation on overhauling the national licensing framework, which could see an end to “licence shopping”.

The number of private hire and Hackney carriage drivers registered with the borough council has fallen from 1020 to 546 since a new council licensing system was introduced in 2019.

Licensing lead Matthew Burton told the committee that the borough council, in its response to the consultation, would be calling for national standards to apply to all authorities.

He said:

“There are some local authorities that have very high standards and some that have very low standards, and many in between. There is a lack of consistency.

“What that means is that individuals are able to ‘licence shop’, and find the licensing authority that they may be able to get a licence from, when they might not be able to from their home authority.”

Mr Burton said the committee had been told multiple times that the area’s “comprehensive” policy has meant licence holders leave the authority, and new applicants wouldn’t apply because its standards are too high.

He said there is also a need to update licensing rules to make the system less vulnerable to organised crime, with taxi drivers being implicated in child sexual exploitation and county lines gangs in various parts of the country.

The committee voted to approve an updated taxi licensing policy, which will come into effect in January.

Following a consultation, the council has dropped a proposal to remove door livery from taxis, after it was decided that this would make it too difficult to identify licensed vehicles.

Councillor Rupert Adcock added: “We effectively have a [national] system that punishes local authorities that have higher safety standards and rewards those with lower standards, and that’s just not right.

“In our response to the consultation we should set out the minimum standards that we want.”