Request ID: FOI-0361-2223 Date published: 15 June 2022
You asked
Revised request (FOI-0103-2223)
1. Please can you let me know how many complaints you have received per year from licence operators or directly from members of public since 25 March 2019 to date.
I am looking for this to be itemised for each year and if possible to be broken down into individual operators such as Uber, Bolt etc
2. Please supply me with the number of licences that have been revoked since 25 March 2019.
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-0361-2223
Thank you for your revised request received on 17 May 2022 asking for information about private hire complaints and licence investigations.
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 for:
• Please can you let me know how many complaints you have received per year from licence operators or directly from members of public since 2010? I am looking for this to be itemised for each year and if possible to be broken down into individual operators such as Uber, Bolt etc
Revised request: I would be pleased to receive the information that you have from 25 March 2019 to date. However, it is disturbing that your records do not go back further than March 2019. Please can you explain why?
As stated in my previous response, we receive complaints from customers regarding taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) services via our Customer Experience team. However, the majority of PHV-related complaints will be made directly to a PHV operator who the journey was booked through and these are largely dealt with directly by the operator.
In addition, the PHV/105 form can be used by PHV operators to notify TfL of any concerns or complaints they may have about a driver. 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. As previously stated, we do not hold recorded data on the number of PHV/105 forms received prior to 25 March 2019.
Our Customer Experience team hold information on PHV complaints from 2017/18. Please note, because of the way cases were categorised there are a low number of complaints recorded as PHV-related, the figures below are unlikely to be an accurate account of the numbers received. Please see the table below for the number of PHV-related complaints received by our Customer Experience team:
Year
Number of PHV-related Complaints
2017/18
19
2018/19
96
2019/20
1819
2020/21
758
2021/22
1396
2022/23 (to May 2022)
162
Providing information derived from the PHV/105 forms and the breakdown, by operator, of the above complaints, that you have requested 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 hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.
Our Customer Experience team does not record the operator separately. Therefore, we would have to review each of the 4,250 complaints we have received to determine whether an operator is named and, if so, which operator it was. It should be noted that there are many complaints where an operator is not mentioned. In addition, we would also have to review all of the PHV/105 forms we have received since March 2019 to determine whether they constituted a complaint and which operator it related to.
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, bearing in mind the information above. As stated above, we would need to review each complaint to determine whether an operator is even named within the complaint. Please be aware that any timeframe that fits within the cost limit will be likely to only provide you with a very narrow subset of information which is therefore likely to be of limited value. Therefore you may wish to request different information.
• Please supply me with the number of licences that have been revoked since 25 March 2019
Since 25 March 2019, we have revoked 2,778 taxi and private hire driver licences. Approximately 60 per cent of these have been due to the licence holder not meeting, or providing evidence that they meet, DVLA Group 2 standards of medical fitness.
To ensure the safety of the travelling public, taxi and private hire drivers must meet a range of criteria to ensure they meet the requirements for licensing and are of good character. These are assessed according to the DVLA group 2 medical standards on fitness to drive and on the basis of an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check. We also consider information provided by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and any other information that comes to our attention, including disclosures received from the police.
Where we are notified by the police of an allegation regarding a Transport for London licensed taxi or private hire driver we will assess whether there is a risk to public safety.
We may suspend a driver's licence prior to a charge or conviction, if we believe the individual is not 'fit and proper' based on the initial evidence. The driver will remain suspended until we receive the results of the police investigation and any court outcomes. A further decision would then be made on the driver’s licence upon conclusion of the investigation or any court proceedings.
In some cases, we may revoke a driver's licence, irrespective of the results of the police investigation and subsequent court proceedings.
Please note that the information provided is subject to change given the outcome of any ongoing or forthcoming legal proceedings.
If this is not the information you are looking for please feel free 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
