Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022 - New Guidance
2023
Following the enactment of the Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022 on 31st March 2022 which created a duty on Licensing Authorities in England to share safeguarding and road safety concerns about taxi and private hire vehicle drivers with each other; guidance has now been updated and published on .Gov. The guidance is aimed to assist Licensing Authorities what information requires sharing and adding to the new database such as “what counts as safeguarding and road safety concerns”.
From 31 May 2022, if any licensing authority in England has information about a taxi or PHV driver licensed by another authority that is relevant to safeguarding or road safety concerns in its area, it must share that information with the authority that issued that driver’s licence.
Any licensing authority provided with such information by another authority must:
- consider whether to suspend or revoke the driver’s licence.
- inform the authority that shared the information of its decision.
The part of the act that requires the use of a database is due to come into effect on 27th April 2023. This means that before a Licensing Authority in England decides whether to grant or renew a driver’s licence, it must search the database for any entry relating to the applicant.