Sarah Champion MP warns ‘LICENCE SHOPPING’ is undermining toughest taxi safeguards in Rotherham
- Perry Richardson
- 14 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Sarah Champion MP has warned that tougher taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) rules brought in after the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal are being eroded by cross-border hiring and “licence shopping”, in written evidence to MPs examining the future of taxi and PHV regulation.
The Labour MP for Rotherham told the Transport Committee that failures in local taxi and PHV licensing were a “significant contributing factor” to historic child sexual exploitation in the town, as documented in the Jay and Casey reports. In response, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC) introduced one of the most stringent licensing regimes in England, including tighter “fit and proper person” tests and mandatory CCTV in vehicles.
Champion said those safeguards are now being weakened by provisions in the Deregulation Act that allow drivers licensed in other areas to work in Rotherham under cross-border hiring rules. She warned that drivers and operators can obtain licences from authorities with lower standards and then operate in Rotherham, effectively sidestepping local conditions designed to protect vulnerable passengers.
The MP argued that this regulatory loophole not only risks undermining public safety but also distorts competition in the local market. Operators and drivers who invest in meeting RMBC’s additional requirements, such as vehicle CCTV and enhanced training, face higher costs than rivals licensed elsewhere but trading in the same patch. That cost imbalance, she suggested, penalises compliant firms and creates commercial pressure to chase the lowest regulatory bar.
Rotherham MP urges tighter national rules and local licensing requirement as cross-border hiring persists
Champion backed the principle of national minimum licensing standards but said the current framework still allows “considerable variation” between local authorities. This leaves scope for drivers to “pick and choose” the most permissive licensing regimes while working predominantly in stricter areas. Her preferred model would combine tougher minimum standards with a legal requirement for drivers to be licensed in the area where they routinely operate, limiting the scope for licence shopping while retaining local control.
For operators and licensing teams across England, the evidence underscores mounting pressure for reform of cross-border rules. Companies heavily invested in safeguarding and compliance are likely to continue lobbying for a level playing field, while authorities with higher standards seek statutory tools to stop being undercut by out-of-area licences. Conversely, councils issuing large volumes of PHV licences to out-of-area drivers may face closer parliamentary scrutiny of their policies and oversight.
Champion’s submission also signals that safeguarding failures linked to taxis and PHVs remain politically sensitive more than a decade after the original Rotherham reports. With the government already examining taxi and PHV reform in the context of child protection, industry stakeholders should expect further debate on mandatory CCTV, enhanced vetting, and where responsibility lies when a vehicle is licensed in one area but operating daily in another.
