The DfT has written to licensing authorities urging them to sign up to the national taxi refusals register NR3 saying “Authorities that are not sharing relevant and necessary information risk facilitating the few dishonest individuals in the sector that fail to disclose any previous licensing history they might have.”

In the letter, Stephen Fidler wrote:

“As you will be aware, in July this year the Government published the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards to licensing authorities aimed at safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. The Statutory Standards set-out a range of robust measures to protect taxi and private hire vehicle passengers including the use of the National Register of Taxi and Private Hire Licence Revocations and Refusals (NR3).

“Authorities that are not sharing relevant and necessary information risk facilitating the few dishonest individuals in the sector that fail to disclose any previous licensing history they might have. We ask those that have not signed up or started to use NR3 to do so as soon as possible as the effectiveness of the database depends on all licensing authorities using it. Ministers will also be engaging with council leaders on this matter to ask them to make sure that their licensing teams are using NR3 to ensure the sharing of vital information to help protect taxi and PHV passengers.”