Banned taxi drivers use 'loophole' to keep working in Somerset

An image of a taxi sign
-Credit: (Image: Getty)


Taxi drivers who have been stripped of their licence by North Somerset Council are taking advantage of a “loophole” and continuing to pick up jobs in Weston-super-Mare.

Taxis need to be licensed by local councils, who require them to pass a “knowledge” test and uphold standards of vehicle and conduct. But councillors have said that taxi drivers who failed North Somerset Council ’s test or who cause problems and are stripped of their licence are just getting licensed by Wolverhampton instead — 90 miles away — and coming back to work in the town.

Raising the issue at a North Somerset Council meeting on November 12, Mike Solomon (Hutton and Locking, Liberal Democrat) said: “We’ve seen a lot of complaints recently that anybody who needs a taxi licence that can’t get one from our council because we are very stringent in our tests can apply to Wolverhampton and very easily get that licence. In fact, they put the answers to their questions on the internet.”

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Chair of the council’s licensing committee, Stuart Davies (Wick St Lawrence and St Georges, Independent) said: “We have revoked licences and then these people have gone out to get the licences through the other licensing department — which is nowhere near our geographic area. [...] Some of these people that are getting these licences shouldn’t be having them and that’s a real concern.”

James Clayton (Weston-super-Mare South, Labour) added: “I am not going to name the company — but there is one company in Weston that, once the drivers have failed their application for a licence in North Somerset, they are directing them straight to Wolverhampton.”

He added that local MP Dan Aldridge would be speaking to colleagues in Wolverhampton about the issue. Bridget Petty (Backwell, Green) called for a publicity campaign to tell people to look out for which council licensed their taxi.

Under the law, taxis can technically be licensed in any local authority — regardless of where the drivers live or plan to work. Although most councils issue a few hundred licences, City of Wolverhampton Council issued over 8,500 licences in the first five months of this year.

Mr Davies said: “What we have done is try to look at a way of negating this procedure and the way that this can be circumvented. So all I can say is watch this space at the moment and see how we are going to tackle that issue.”

Catherine Gibbons (Weston-super-Mare Milton, Labour) added: “When I was in Liverpool recently at a conference, it was a major complaint amongst taxi drivers there that half their taxis are licensed in Wolverhampton as well.”