Under the freedom of information act, I would like the figures on how many Black Cab drivers were accused and or convicted of serious harm, sexual assault or violent conduct per year since 2012 to 2018. Thank you.

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Our ref: FOI-2504-1819/EH

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 20 December 2018 asking for information about taxi drivers. I apologise for the delay in responding to you.

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 hold some of the information you require. You asked:

Under the freedom of information act, I would like the figures on how many Black Cab drivers were accused and or convicted of serious harm, sexual assault or violent conduct per year since 2012 to 2018.

To ensure the safety of the travelling public, taxi and private hire drivers must meet a range of strict criteria to ensure they are of good character. This is assessed on the basis of an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check submitted as part of a licence application, information provided by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and any other information that comes to our attention.

Once a decision regarding a driver's application has been made the results of the DBS check have to be destroyed. This is in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice which has statutory backing. Therefore, we do not hold all details of convictions and cautions and only those that have been declared to us by the driver.

Licensed drivers are obliged to notify us within 21 days if they have been disqualified from driving or have been cautioned, charged, or convicted of any criminal offence - including any road traffic offences. This requirement is clearly stated in the letter that accompanies all driver licences.

To provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, as we would need to individually check in excess of 23,000 individual taxi driver records to identify, extract and collate this information. The information requested is not held in a reportable format and we have estimated that manually checking this data would considerably exceed the set limit.

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. 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 Transport for London. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a shorter period of time, geographical area or specific departments of TfL.

I apologise that we are unable to assist you in this instance.  If you would like to discuss your request and how you can bring it within the cost threshold, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

Under the freedom of information act, I would like the figures on how many Black Cab drivers were accused and or convicted of serious harm, sexual assault or violent conduct per year since 2012 to 2018.

Thank you.

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