Less than half of taxi licensing authorities have submitted data to new refused and revoked database

Less than half of licensing authorities in England are submitting data to the National Register of Taxi and Private Hire Licence Revocations and Refusals scheme according to government data.

The National Register of Taxi Licence Refusals and Revocations, which is also known as NR3, allows councils to record details of hackney carriage or private hire vehicle (PHV) licences that have been refused or revoked. Crucially it also allows local authorities to check new applicants against the register.

The data held on NR3 helps licensing authorities fulfil their statutory duty to be satisfied that a person is a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

However according to sources only half of licensing authorities were currently using the NR3 database when making licensing decisions at the end of March 2021.

Richard Holden, Conservative MP for North West Durham, asked the Secretary State of Transport which local authorities are members of the National Register of Taxi and Private Hire Licence Revocations and Refusals scheme (NR3).

Transport Minister Rachel Maclean responded: “As at 31 March 2021 48% of authorities submitted data to the National Register of Taxi and Private Hire Licence Revocations and Refusals scheme (NR3), and 50% used NR3 when making licensing decisions.

“Table TAXI0112 of the Department’s ‘Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Statistics, England: 2021’ release provides the responses from all licensing authorities and is available on the GOV.UK website.”