REVOKED: TfL revoke SIXTY FIVE minicab driver licences for sexual related offences in 2022

Transport for London (TfL) revoked 327 Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) driver's licences in 2022 for non-medical related reasons.

In that total, 39 licences were revoked for serious sexual offences and a further 26 for ‘other’ sexual offences.

Other reasons for minicab drivers losing their licences in London include drink or drug driving (19), driving disqualification (122), dishonesty (46), non-sexual abuse or behaviour towards passenger (12), arrested or charged for a serious offence (9), fraudulent identifiers (14) and violence (7).

Regulators TfL can immediately suspend or revoke a driver's licence prior to charge or conviction, if they believe that it is in the interests of public safety. In some cases, TfL may take licensing action immediately, irrespective of the results of the police investigation and subsequent court proceedings.

According to the data released via an FOI, a further 321 PHV drivers also saw their licences revoked by TfL on medical grounds.

TfL introduced the new national refusals database (NR3) in August 2021 as part of its taxi and private hire driver licensing process.

The NR3 database allows councils and licensing authorities to record details of when a taxi or PHV driver application has been refused or a licence revoked.

In line with the DfT Statutory Standards, TfL notified licensees detailing the intended use of, and interaction with, the NR3 database.

The new database provides details of all taxi and private hire driver licence revocation and refusal decisions taken from 1 January 2018. From Monday 23 August, any subsequent licensing decisions to refuse an application or revoke a licence has been added to the NR3 database on a weekly basis.