Safeguarding for taxi and private hire drivers: training and warning signs

The Department for Transport's statutory standards say licensing authorities should provide safeguarding advice and guidance to the trade, and should require taxi and private hire drivers to undertake safeguarding training. The standards say drivers can help to detect and prevent abuse or neglect. But they can only do this if they know the signs and where to turn.

According to the standards, these programmes help drivers and operators to:

• provide a safe and suitable service to vulnerable passengers of all ages
• recognise what makes a person vulnerable
• understand how to respond, including how to report safeguarding concerns and where to get advice

Source: Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards (opens in a new tab) (Department for Transport, 6.2 Safeguarding awareness)[1]

County lines is the name for gangs that move illegal drugs into other areas using dedicated phone lines. They exploit children and vulnerable adults to carry drugs and money. The statutory standards say hire vehicles are one of the ways victims, drugs and cash are moved, and that safeguarding training should help drivers identify it.

The standards list these warning signs for children and young people:

• travelling in taxis or private hire vehicles alone
• travelling at unusual hours, such as during school time, early in the morning or late at night
• travelling long distances
• being unfamiliar with the local area or not having a local accent
• paying for journeys in cash or prepaid

Source: Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards (opens in a new tab) (Department for Transport, 6.3 County lines exploitation)[1]

The statutory standards say that if the risk to a child or vulnerable person is immediate, you should contact the police. Otherwise you should use the local safeguarding process, which usually starts with contacting the safeguarding lead at the local authority, or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Source: Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards (opens in a new tab) (Department for Transport, 6.3 County lines exploitation)[1]

Safeguarding is tested in different ways. Wolverhampton's 28-question test includes 8 key questions, 3 of them on safeguarding. Bradford's Driver Modular Training includes CSE (child sexual exploitation) training and assessment. Leeds has a separate safeguarding module with its own test, and each Leeds test has questions you must answer correctly.

Our free Wolverhampton practice test includes safeguarding questions written from the council's own material.

Sources: Taxi knowledge and practical test (opens in a new tab) (City of Wolverhampton Council, Private hire licence: training course)[2]; Driver Modular Training (opens in a new tab) (City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, What does the Driver Modular Training consist of?)[3]; Applying for a hackney carriage or private hire driver's licence (includes the driver training policy summary) (opens in a new tab) (Leeds City Council, Driver training policy, sections 1 and 2)[4]

The statutory standards link English language skills to safeguarding. Written English matters because drivers need to understand policies and guidance on protecting children and vulnerable adults. Spoken English matters for noticing possible exploitation through talking with passengers. For this reason the standards say a council's test of a driver's English should cover both.

Source: Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards (opens in a new tab) (Department for Transport, 6.4 Language proficiency)[1]