More than 150 violent offenders granted taxi licences in Midlands city last year

More than 150 people convicted of violent crimes were granted taxi licences last year by Wolverhampton city council, dubbed the UK’s “taxi capital”, data has revealed.

The Guardian obtained data via a freedom of information request that revealed 438 people with criminal convictions were last year granted taxi and private hire driver licences by the West Midlands local authority – which has issued far more taxi licences than any other authority.

This included 158 people convicted of violent offences, 61 convicted of drug offences, 36 of drink offences and four of sexual offences. The council said 16 drivers had convictions in two of the requested categories.

Drivers with licences issued by Wolverhampton council can work, using apps like Uber and Bolt, in other local authority areas.

Between April 2023 and the end of March 2024, the city council issued more than than 42,000 driver licences, compared with Birmingham and Bradford, which had issued the second and third largest number of licences – more than 7,000 each – according to government data.

Wolverhampton’s extraordinary dominance of the taxi licensing system has raised concerns over safety risks to passengers, but the authority has denied claims it is quicker and easier to get a licence there.

A report by the council’s regulatory committee said it appealed to drivers due to its work to digitise its application form and streamline processes.

Several key figures have voiced concerns around inconsistent safeguarding standards in taxi licensing, with the government currently exploring proposals to reduce the number of bodies issuing licences and reduce out-of-area working, which enables drivers licensed in one area to operate in another.

Between April 2023 and the end of March, Wolverhampton council said 96% of its licensed drivers lived outside the city.

The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, called the figures obtained by the Guardian “truly shocking” and said they “lay bare the fundamental issue with how private hire licensing is managed in this country”.

“We want our taxis and private hire vehicles [PHVs] to be among the safest and most trusted in the country, but we can’t do this with the current broken licensing system, where local leaders have zero oversight over nearly half the PHVs on our streets,” the mayor said.

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which works to reduce stalking and harassment, said it has been campaigning for consistent safeguarding standards in taxi licensing since 2014 and called for drivers to be viewed as a regulated activity to ensure stricter background checks.

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said its statutory guidance is “clear that anyone convicted of a sexual offence should not be granted a taxi or private hire licence”, adding that licensing decisions are taken by individual local authorities with reference to government guidance.

Its guidance also states that a licence should not be granted to an applicant convicted of a violent offence until at least 10 years have elapsed since the sentence was completed.

The chief executive of Wolverhampton council said “safeguarding is such a priority for us”, and each application is “scrutinised and considered” on the basis of local and national policies.

“There is nothing more important to us than the safety of passengers in cars licensed by this council,” Tim Johnson said. “We refuse thousands of licence applications each year.”

He added that Wolverhampton is the only council to carry out Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks on all of its drivers and the only local authority to share data about the convictions of licensed drivers.

“Licences are only approved if our panel – which includes a trained decision maker and solicitor – would be happy for a person they care for to travel alone in a vehicle driven by this person at any time of day or night,” he said. “We know that other authorities have licensed drivers with similar previous convictions.”

Drivers with PHV licences work for companies such as Uber and Bolt, and can only carry out pre-booked journeys. Spokespeople for both companies said the decision to grant a private hire driver licence is made by a local authority and details about a driver’s background checks are not passed on to them.

“Bolt’s own data shows no meaningful link between where a driver is licensed and reported safety incidents,” a Bolt spokesperson added.

Uber and Bolt said they have introduced safety tools for passengers, including providing details about their driver’s identity and vehicle details before they get into the car.

Wolverhampton council, along with Uber and Bolt, said it supported plans to reform the taxi licensing system.

The Guardian also requested data on the number of licences issued to people with criminal convictions to Birmingham and Bradford councils.

Birmingham said it does require applicants to provide enhanced DBS checks at the time of application but “GDPR restrictions prevent us from retaining that information”.

A spokesperson for Birmingham city council said: “Where an applicant has a previous conviction for certain offences involving violence/public order, sexual, dishonesty, serious driving or drug offences, our starting point for all convictions of this nature is to refuse the licence application.

“The onus is on them to convince the licensing authority that they are a ‘fit and proper person’ to hold a licence.”

Bradford council said it did have data on the number of people who had committed violent, drug or drink offences and were granted taxi licences, but the request would “exceed the appropriate cost limit” within a freedom of information request.

A spokesperson for Bradford council said it had implemented a suitability policy for taxi and PHV drivers and its main objective was to “protect the public and to safeguard children and vulnerable people”.