Thousands oppose relaxing taxi criminal record checks in Inverclyde
Thousands of people voiced their opposition to the idea of relaxing the rules when Inverclyde Council launched a consultation in January.
The authority's general purposes board asked the public to share their views on a range of proposals for how the council should carry out these checks going forward.
Currently, anyone seeking a taxi or private hire vehicle (PHV) driver’s licence has to declare any previous convictions in their application.
They are also subject to a criminal record check from Police Scotland – but that check does not reveal details of any convictions outside the UK.
Applicants must also provide a criminal record check for any country where they have lived for six months or more.
If the applicant is born outside the UK, and criminal record checks are not available for that country, then under the current rules, it is rejected.
But in August last year, members of the general purposes board were asked to consider whether to change that process.
Councillors on the boared unanimously decided to consult the public before settling on any changes.
Among the options put to the public in the survey was a proposal which could see applications submitted by those born outside the UK accepted, subject to other checks, provided that the applicant had lived in the UK for at least five years.
Under that proposal, applications from those who have spent six months or more outside the UK but were unable to provide criminal record checks for every country in which they had lived during that period would also be accepted, subject to several other conditions.
Of the 2,748 people who took part in the consultation, only74 supported the idea.
Another option, would have applied the same checks and protocol for acceptance as the previous proposal, but with a different residency timescale applied. Again, this proposal attracted only a small number of supporters.
A third option would have seen any applications where criminal record checks are not available considered by the general purposes board itself, provided an explanation could be given for the lack of checks. This measure only got the support of 33 respondents.
Instead of these three options, those who took part in the consultation overwhelmingly favoured continuing with the council’s current policy of rejecting applications where background checks are not available.
Prior to the publication of the consultation's results, the proposals had already been met with significant opposition which saw hundreds of concerned locals sign a Change.org petition opposing any changes.
Council officers have said that the 2,634 people gave a variety of reasons for supporting the measure, citing concerns about public safety and a belief that those from outside the UK, or who have lived outside the UK for six months or more, should be subject to the same scrutiny as UK applicants.
In their assessment of the merits and drawbacks of keeping the rules as they are, council officers stated: “The advantage of the above option is that it assists the council to discharge its duties in relation to public safety.
“No application can be accepted in circumstances where an applicant is unable to provide a criminal record check from their country of origin.
“Applications which are not accompanied by the relevant documentation are treated as incomplete and will not be processed.
“One disadvantage is that a number of enquiries/complaints have been received regarding the perception that the current policy is unfair, and discriminates against existing applicants who are unable to obtain relevant documentation due to circumstances out with their control.
“Another disadvantage is that there is no flexibility in the above approach, which prevents applicants who are unable to provide documentation regarding criminal records checks due to circumstances outwith their control from ever being granted a licence, regardless of the length of time they have spent residing in the UK.”
Councillors are set to meet on April 8 to decide whether to amend the rules.
