THE Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness has spoken up for what he described as the “excellent” taxi trade in Barrow and South Lakeland.

Simon Fell was speaking in the Taxi and Private Hire (Safeguarding) Bill 2021-22 in the House of Commons last week.

The Bill is sponsored by Peter Gibson, the Conservative MP for Darlington. Private Members Bills are put forward by back bench MPs (ie MPs who aren’t in Government) from all sides of the House of Commons. MPs hope that they will garner enough support for their Bill, so that it eventually becomes law.

This Bill seeks to improve the safety of taxi passengers. The problem the Bill seeks to resolve is one of where licensing authorities might revoke the licences of drivers for wrongdoing, only for the driver to obtain a licence from another authority, and then be able to continue working, potentially in the former licensing authority area.

It aims to address this problem in two ways. First, it would mandate local licensing authorities to record taxi licence refusals, revocations and suspensions on a national database, which other local licensing authorities would be required to consult before making licence decisions about the same driver. This would create a statutory footing for the ‘National Register of Taxi and Private Hire Licence Revocations and Refusals’ (NR3), which was commissioned by the Local Government Association and introduced July 2018, and is already used by many licensing authorities on a voluntary basis.

Second, it would allow local authority enforcement teams to report instances of wrongdoing by taxi drivers to the authority in which the offender is licensed. The licensing authority must then have regard to such a report and respond to it.

Showing his support for Furness’ taxi trade, Mr Fell said: “We have an excellent taxi trade in Barrow, and South Lakeland. The role they play in getting people home, keeping them safe, and often going the extra mile, is exceptional. We saw that through the pandemic with people coming forward with their incredible stories about how their local drivers had stepped up to help them.”

POLITICS: Barrow MP Simon Fell

POLITICS: Barrow MP Simon Fell

Commenting on the Bills chances of becoming law, the MP said: “This Bill - which I spoke at through all its Commons stages - is now going to the Lords with Government support I hope it will become law soon. It will keep the public safe and help protect the reputations of our excellent taxi trade and drivers.”