Request ID: FOI-0206-2223 Date published: 27 May 2022
You asked
I am seeing on social media groups what appears to be a huge amount of TFL enquiries opened up against private hire drivers on the basis of investigating 'History of safety-related complaints', but led to 'no further action' by PH operators because no laws were proven to be broken and customer safety was not deemed to have been compromised.
Please will you kindly send me information on:
1. All TfL policies, regulatory requirements, and procedures you follow on how you determine the fitness of a private hire driver.
2. Please kindly send me policies and procedures if different to request 1, relating specifically to 'History of safety-related complaints'.
2. Numbers of 'History of safety-related complaints' letter investigations that have been opened up against Private Hire Drivers for each month from January 2021 to April 2022.
3. How many of these investigations month on month over the same period led to private hire drivers' licences being cancelled?
4. How many of private hire drivers month on month over the same period having been investigated and had their licences cancelled as a result of these historic complaint investigations by TFL successfully win back their licences after a magistrates court appeal?
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-0206-2223
Thank you for your request received on 30 April 2022 asking for information about the licensing of private hire drivers.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require. You asked:
Please will you kindly send me information on:
1. All TfL policies, regulatory requirements, and procedures you follow on how you determine the fitness of a private hire driver. 2. Please kindly send me policies and procedures if different to request 1, relating specifically to 'History of safety-related complaints'.
We publish a wide array of policy, guidance, regulations and legislation for the London taxi and private hire industry on our webpage at the following location: www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/taxi-and-private-hire.
3. Numbers of 'History of safety-related complaints' letter investigations that have been opened up against Private Hire Drivers for each month from January 2021 to April 2022. 4. How many of these investigations month on month over the same period led to private hire drivers' licences being cancelled? 5. How many of private hire drivers month on month over the same period having been investigated and had their licences cancelled as a result of these historic complaint investigations by TFL successfully win back their licences after a magistrates court appeal?
To provide the information you have requested above would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.
We have estimated that it would cost over £450 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take in excess of 18 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.
Any allegations that lead to an operator dismissing a driver due to their unsatisfactory conduct in connection with the driving a private hire vehicle must be notified to TfL as soon as it is practically possible and within 14 days.
We provide form PHV/105 for this purpose, however, the same form can be used by an operator to inform TfL of any concerns or complaints they may have about a driver who has not been dismissed. This form can therefore be used by an operator to notify TfL if a driver has been suspended from working for the operator, but also to provide outcomes of any investigation/review they have looked to undertake with respect to a complaint that was received.
We receive hundreds of these documents on a monthly basis, however, to determine whether each of these led to the review of a driver’s fitness to hold a licence would require us to manually check each associated drivers record to determine what, if any action was taken and what the outcome was.
To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. For example, you may wish to reduce the timeframe of your request.
If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can.
Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.
Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.
In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
