Dennot Nyack

NR3: close, but no cigar?

The launch of the national register of taxi and Private Hire Licence Revocations and Refusals (NR3) is a good start but may need tweaking.

Introduced without much fanfare, NR3 actually went live three years ago in July 2018. This August, Transport for London adopted the use of the database as part of its local authorities taxi and private hire driver licensing process. But what is NR3 and what does it do?

BACKGROUND

In 2018 the Department for Transport’s Task and Finish Group on future taxi and private hire vehicle licensing, chaired by Professor Mohammed Abdel-Haq, published its report entitled ‘Taxi and private hire vehicle Licensing: Steps towards a safer and more robust system.’

The report requested, among other things, that the government should: “Issue guidance, as a matter of urgency, that clearly specifies convictions that it considers should be grounds for refusal or revocation of driver licences and the period for which these exclusions should apply. Licensing authorities must align their existing policies to this ahead of inclusion in national minimum standards.”

Additional recommendations supported this demand. Recommendation 24 called for, “as a matter of urgency”, the establishment of a mandatory national database of all licensed taxi and PHV drivers, vehicles and operators, to support stronger enforcement.

Why was a Register needed? The need for passenger safety when using personal transport services is essential. The use of the database will further professionalise the taxi and private hire industry. The adoption of the Register is an important step in overcoming the issue of individuals making applications to different licensing authorities following a refusal or revocation. Previously, some applicants did not disclose a previous revocation or refusal of a licence, so there was often no way for a licensing authority to find out this information.

This meant that vital intelligence about an applicant’s past behaviour was missed and an individual might be able to get a new licence in another area, despite having their licence taken away elsewhere.

Last year, the DfT published statutory standards for taxi and private hire licensing, which advised authorities to use the NR3 database to strengthen their licensing processes.

HOW DOES THE REGISTER WORK?

Commissioned by the Local Government Association the National Anti-Fraud Network (NAFN), a shared service hosted by Tameside council, developed the Register, which supports public authorities to tackle fraud and share intelligence.

To access the Register, authorities are required to be members of NAFN and around 90% of local authorities have already joined. Licensing authorities will be responsible for adding basic details of drivers who have had applications for a licence either refused, revoked or suspended.

When a licensing authority receives an application for a licence, the applicant’s details will be checked on the Register to confirm that there is no record of them having being revoked or refused elsewhere. Details contained on the Register will be limited to information that will help to identify an individual to a certain degree of accuracy, but will not give a reason why actions were taken.

The Register went live in July 2018, and guidance has been developed that sets out the steps authorities will need to take to use the Register in a way that complies with the data protection requirements, as well as with human rights law.

The database will allow licensing bodies record details of when a taxi or private driver application has been refused or a licence revoked, wherever that has occurred. NR3 will provide details of all taxi and private hire driver licence revocation and refusal decisions, effective from January 2018. As a consequence,

any subsequent licensing decisions to refuse an application or revoke a licence will be regularly added to the database. The circumstances leading to a licence refusal or revocation is not identified on the database. In such a situation a number of licensing authorities have stated that they will, as a matter of practice, contact the relevant licensing authority to establish the basis of the refusal or revocation. The relevance of the reason for the refusal or revocation will form part of the consideration as to whether an application is granted. Full disclosure is expected by all licence applicants, as failure Dennot Nyack to do so will be considered by the licensing authorities that The union view from our GMB representative the applicant is not a ‘fit and proper’ person to hold a licence. Licensing authorities have stated that they will notify licensees of use and interaction with the database.

DEALING WITH CONVICTIONS AND COMPLAINTS

TfL has, along with other authorities, stated that refusals and revocations will be registered on the database. The primary reasons for refusals or revocations are likely to be complaints or criminal history. These could be: u Any conviction for a major violent offence (murder, manslaughter, etc.) u More than one conviction of any violent offence in the past 10 years u Serving of a custodial sentence, even if the applicant has been released early on licence or the sentence was suspended u Convicted, cautioned or subjected to any other penalty for a serious sexual offence (rape, indecent assault, trafficking, possession of indecent images etc) u Convicted, cautioned or subjected to any other penalty for more than one sexual offence of any type, irrespective of age u Listed on either the Children’s or Adults’ barred list u Convicted, cautioned or subjected to any other penalty for touting in the past 12 months or have more than one penalty for touting in the past five years. TfL has stated that this list is not exhaustive and they may, on a case to case basis, refuse application on other grounds not listed above.

CONCERNS

As stated above I welcome the use of the Register by licensing authorities. However, there are some concerns that arise over its use. Firstly, in coming to their decision to refuse or revoke a licence some authorities use information provided by operators without questioning its veracity. I personally know of drivers who have had complaints made against them which were never properly investigated by the operator but placed on their file; complaints which were stale; and complaints that were, if so serious as to merit the drivers licence being revoked or refused, did not lead to them being suspended by the operator at the time. For the Register to be fair and to be seen to be fair the “upstream process” of complaints has to be strengthened before its reliance by authorities. Secondly, while there is an appeal process against the refusal or revocation of a licence, based on information obtained via the Register, such an appeal is by way of an application to a magistrates court with a further appeal to a Crown Court. This is an expensive process that can place applicants, particularly private hire drivers who are often financially challenged, at a disadvantage. This is not to take away from the benefit of NR3 but rather to strengthen it. So, I presume that the policy and the database will be subject to review from time to time. —Dennot Nyack n Dennot is a AGM trade union member and was a former representative of the GMB’s professional drivers. He is also an author and broadcaster with a strong knowledge of the private hire industry and an equality and diversity specialist. email: dennotnyack@yahoo.com — mobile: +44 0740 625 276