32.5% increase in complaints against Sunderland taxi drivers, report reveals

Complaints about Wearside’s taxi drivers are on the rise, according to the latest annual report from council licensing chiefs.

Sunderland City Council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee looked at new data linked to hackney carriage and private hire licensing matters across the city.

The annual report monitored licensing performance and activity over a 12-month period in 2022, and marked a drive by the city council to publish data about licensed drivers.

This includes the number of applications for new licences, transfers of ownership and renewals, as well as complaints related to licensed drivers in Sunderland.

The second annual report was recently released by the city council, collecting data between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023, and allows year-on-year comparisons to be made.

According to council data, there has been a 32.5% increase in complaints relating to licensed drivers compared to 2022, an increase from 40 to 53.

Of the complaints in 2023, around half (29) saw some form of formal action, from verbal warnings and advice to written warnings and licensing hearings, and 19 complaints saw no further action taken.

At the time the report was published, there were “ongoing investigations” in relation to five complaints.

Complaints relating to licensed drivers were noted to come from passengers, other licensees or elsewhere.

The annual licensing report, presented at a recent meeting of Sunderland City Council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee, also provided a breakdown of the types of complaints related to licensed drivers.

Around a quarter of the 2023 complaints were related to behaviour or attitude, with one example including a driver “sounding his horn and gesticulating to the complainant”.

Other examples listed in the report included a driver “being abusive towards a civil enforcement officer when carrying out their duties, while the taxi driver was illegally parking” and a driver who “wouldn’t drop off at the door”.

The number of complaints about behaviour or attitude in 2023 dropped slightly compared to the previous year.

However, around 17 complaints in 2023 were linked to “driving ability/skills” which represented an increase compared to the previous year, a jump from 14 to 17.

Examples ranged from “erratic driving” and a driver “performing a U-turn and then becoming abusive when challenged”, to a driver “driving through bus gates” and a driver “pulling out in front of [a] complainant”.

Around 15 complaints were linked to fare/card payments, which were nearly double the number of complaints compared to the previous year.

Examples in the report included a complaint that one driver “couldn’t accept card payments”, as well as complaints about a customer being “charged a different fare than usual” and a bank account being “debited at a higher amount than the fare displayed”.

In addition, around a dozen complaints were linked to a refusal of a fare/not accepting a booking for a fare, which represented a tripling of complaints compared to the previous year.

Some examples in the annual report included “drivers refusing WAV (wheelchair accessible vehicle) bookings” and “drivers refusing passengers who want to pay by card”.

A small number of complaints were also received regarding the condition of a vehicle with one instance linked to “damaged seat coverings” and the other related to a “vehicle’s general cleanliness”.

Of the complaints related to licensed drivers in 2023, three cases were considered by the Licensing and Regulatory Committee, which conducts hearings in private, compared to five cases the previous year.

The recent annual report stated that hearings for the three drivers in 2023 led to three written warnings, and two non-immediate suspensions of a licence to drive private hire vehicles.

The period of suspension lasted three months and included a referral to the driver improvement scheme, together with written warnings.

There were no cases considered by the committee which involved the “non-immediate revocation of licences to drive hackney carriage and private hire vehicles”, compared to one case in 2022.

However, there were three cases in 2023 considered by senior council officers looking at the “immediate suspension, or revocation of licences to drive hackney carriage and/or private hire vehicles”, compared to zero in 2022.

According to the council’s annual report, all three cases were decided under ‘delegated powers’ and resulted in “the immediate revocation” of licences on “the grounds of public safety”.

The 2023 annual report was considered by the Licensing and Regulatory Committee at its meeting on January 29, 2024.

The introduction of the annual reports links in with government guidance and the Department for Transport’s ‘statutory taxi standards’ document.

A report presented to councillors last year added one of the “key lessons learned is that it is vital to review policies and reflect changes in the industry both locally and nationally”.

Future annual reports from Sunderland City Council aim to detail previous figures to help monitor changes and trends going forward.

The next annual report, looking at data for 2024, is expected to be considered at a meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee in January, 2025.

Annual licensing reports can be found on Sunderland City Council’s website.