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Taxis: Licensing

Volume 481: debated on Tuesday 28 October 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) arrests, (b) prosecutions and (c) convictions there have been for offences relating to drivers operating taxi services without a licence in the last five years. (231214)

The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally.

The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery. Offences relating to drivers operating taxi services without a licence are not notifiable offences and do not form a part of the arrests collection.

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 S.167, and the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 Sec 40-60, and 62-68, in England and Wales, 2002 to 2006 can be viewed in the following table.

However only section 47 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 covers “Acting as a Hackney Carriage driver without a licence.” The Office for Criminal Justice Reform is unable to separately identify offences under section 47 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847, as they form part of a group which cannot be analysed further. The table shows data for sections 40-60 and 62-68 of the Act.

Court proceedings data are unable to separate Section 47—Act as a Hackney carriage driver without a licence, and Employ an unlicensed Hackney carriage driver. From the other set of offences under this statute as they are grouped together.

These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

Court proceedings data for 2007 will be available at the end of November 2008.

Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 S.167, and the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 Sec 40-60, and 62-68, in England and Wales, 2002 to 20061, 2, 3, 4

Town Police Clauses Act 1847 Sec 40-60, and 62-68

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 167.

Proceeded against

Found guilty

Proceeded against

Found guilty

2002

450

391

229

182

2003

337

270

259

194

2004

292

248

483

311

2005

283

233

597

422

2006

391

325

714

384

1 These data are on the principal offence basis.

2 Includes the following statutes and corresponding offence descriptions

Town Police Clauses Act 1847 Sec 40-60, and 62-68.

Offences peculiar to stage carriage and public service vehicles.

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 167.

Touting for hire car service without PSV operator's licence.

3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

4 Court proceedings data are unable to separate Section 47—Act as a Hackney carriage driver without a licence, and Employ an unlicensed Hackney carriage driver—from the other set of offences under this statute as they are grouped together.

Source:

Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit