Illegal taxi drivers are a threat not just to the public but to the taxi driving profession itself. In addition to taking work away from properly licensed drivers with the correct taxi insurance, fake cabs can erode confidence in the profession and make it more difficult for hard-working drivers to get fares.
Many taxi drivers will surely welcome the efforts of the police to crack down on illegal taxi driving at a national and local level. Most recently, police in Redruth have been on patrol in an attempt to prevent such violations.
The threat of unlicensed taxis
Redruth Police have been carrying out a multi-pronged operation in the town which seems to be quite light-handed at the moment. As well as carrying out spot checks on the road, local police officers made a visit to a rank outside a nightclub, called the Zone Club, where it has been reported that illegal taxi drivers have been operating.
There they simply talked to the assembled drivers about the types of licence and taxi insurance needed to drive a taxi on the road legally. They also handed out leaflets to clubbers to warn them about the dangers of getting in an unlicensed and uninsured taxi.
PC Mark Pearce told the West Briton newspaper, “we aren’t necessarily arresting drivers at this stage: we’re just making sure that the information is out there for members of the public who travel in taxis… we want the perpetrators to know that this is an issue we’re aware of and that illegal taxi activity will result in fines and potentially prosecution.”
Licence forgery driver hit pensioner
Initiatives like this taking part on a local level are a potent reminder to all drivers that they need to make sure that their licences and taxi insurance are kept up to date.
In one recent incident in Sunderland, a taxi driver has been charged with forging his taxi licence after he struck and killed a pensioner who was crossing the road. Though he was not charged for the death, it was found that while James Robson had worked for many years as a taxi driver, he had not renewed his licence since 2007, and had used a forgery to obtain his taxi insurance.