Fit and Proper Test
The Council will apply the ‘fit and proper’ test to all applicants and licensed drivers and private hire operators. It is the Council’s responsibility to ensure that all persons that have any control over a licensed vehicle, either because they drive the vehicle, operate a firm which dispatches the vehicle are safe and suitable and do not pose any risk to the safety of their passengers and the public.
Where an applicant or licensed driver, private hire operator cannot demonstrate that they meet the fit and proper standard, or where there is a suspicion that this may be the case, the Council must act to ensure protection for the public.
Councils must remember that there are generally no other circumstance in which someone will get into a car driven by a person they do not know, excepting when under arrest and being escorted in a police vehicle. This places the passenger in a very vulnerable situation and the driver of the taxi in a position of great power and trust. Drivers and operators are also privy to very private information, such as addresses, passenger’s regular routines and holiday dates, information which could be very valuable to those seeking to use it dishonestly. Therefore, it is imperative that safeguards are in place to ensure that only those persons that are safe, suitable and trustworthy are given this power.
The fit and proper assessment should be made either by an authorised officer or by the members of a committee, with the following question in mind:
Would I want any members of my family, a child or a vulnerable person (including someone who may be intoxicated) to either be alone in a car with or in a vehicle under the control of this person.
If the answer is ‘no’ or ‘not sure’ then the fit and proper test has not been satisfied and the licence should be refused or revoked.
When the fitness and propriety of the holder of a driver licence or an operator licence is in issue the Council recognises that it may exercise its discretion to sanction the vehicle licence on the grounds that the holder is not fit and proper and it is undesirable for him/her to have access to a licensed taxi.