Glasgow’s licensing rules on criminal record checks will be changed to help potential taxi and private hire drivers who have lived abroad.
Concerns have been raised recently that potential drivers have been banned from applying due to the current procedures.
People who have lived in the UK for several years but cannot get a criminal record check from a country where they previously stayed for six months or more have been unable to submit a licence bid to the council.
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Now, the city’s licensing committee has agreed to change the rules so that criminal record checks in countries where a new applicant has lived for six months or longer, since the age of 16, are only needed if they have not lived in the UK for five consecutive years.
If the applicant has previously held a licence in Glasgow, a criminal record check would only be required for any period, of six months or longer, they have spent outside the UK since the last licence expired.
A council official explained: “If you are a first time applicant and you have lived in the UK for a period of five consecutive years prior to applying, you do not need a criminal record check.”
All drivers of taxi and private hire cars must be considered a “fit and proper person” by the licensing authority.
Applications are passed to Police Scotland for consultation but when an applicant was born, or has lived, outwith the UK, the force is “unable to provide comment on when an applicant entered the UK and/or whether or not the applicant has accrued any convictions outwith the UK.”
Before January 2010, only applicants born outwith the UK had to produce a criminal record check from their country of origin, translated into English. At a meeting in January 2010, the committee agreed to extend the need for a criminal record check to all applicants who had lived outside the UK for six months.
Criminal record checks are expected to be dated within six months prior to an application being submitted. Where the check is from an EU country and is not in English, a multilingual standard form or a certified translation carried out by a person qualified to do so under the law of a member state must be included.
Checks from all other countries must be translated into English and verified by the relevant UK based embassy, consulate or high commission.
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