Complaints against taxi drivers “inadequately investigated”

Efficient steps are not taken in the first place to ensure licence-holders are fit and proper  meaning the public cannot be assured.

The report said: “The well-publicised link between taxis and CSE in Rotherham continues to cast a long shadow over the vast majority of law abiding drivers.

“So it is not only to protect potential victims from unscrupulous drivers that RMBC needs to get their house in order and regulate taxis effectively, but also for the drivers who are damned by association.”

There have been 1,100 complaints about drivers in the past five years. Thirty-three licences were suspended and 26 revoked.

The council operates a home-to-school transport scheme which allows potentially vulnerable children to travel in taxis, often unaccompanied.

A boy with learning difficulties complained about a driver mocking his disability, swearing, urinating in front of him and driving dangerously.

The 21-year-old cabbie had his contract terminated. Rotherham’s licensing board decided he was not fit to drive  but only suspended him for three months, allowing him to continue as a private hire afterwards.

The Casey report expresses surprise that the case study was actually offered to the inspection team as an example of improvement in licensing practice.

The document also said: “Licensing officers reported to inspectors that they had received phone calls from members over perceived delays in the processing of individual applications. Officers would be urged to stop wasting time.”