Taxi drivers protest over ‘discriminatory’ rules penalising hygiene, dress code and punctuality

Taxi drivers could receive penalty points and even lose their licence under the new regulation

Over a hundred taxi drivers came out to protest West Northamptonshire Council’s new proposed private hire licensing policy (Shafqat Shah (ADCU))

Controversial new rules for taxi drivers have been put on hold after more than 100 taxi drivers protested over the “discriminatory” policy.

The regulations proposed by West Northamptonshire Council would see drivers given penalty points over failing to comply with a dress code and poor punctuality - and be at risk of losing their licence.

Foreign nationals would also need to provide a ‘certificate of good conduct’ from every country they had lived in as an adult.

In response, taxi drivers protested against the policy outside a meeting of the council’s taxi and general licensing committee on Tuesday evening. They claimed the rules would leave them humiliated and scared, and that the regulation targeted those from ethnic communities.

Members of the committee delayed a decision “to a later date”, requesting more time to consider consultation response.

Drivers say they will lose their livelihood over what they say are “disproportionate” new measures (App and Courier Drivers Union/Shafqat Shah)

A spokesperson for the council said: “Our new draft taxi and private hire policy is designed with public safety in mind, and we have liaised with our local firms and drivers throughout its development.

“We held a lengthy consultation, which was extended at the request of the trade, and everyone’s views have been captured and presented back to the licensing committee. At Tuesday’s meeting, committee members requested more time to consider the consultation responses.”

Shafqat Shah, who is a private hire driver in Northampton and chairperson of the Northampton App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU), said there was a lot of anger among the driver community.

Drivers say they feel “humiliated” and “scared” by the new proposed policy (App and Courier Drivers Union/Shafqat Shah)

“There could be a million reasons why someone’s late,” he said. “The road conditions or traffic could be bad, or the job could have been dispatched late to them. But under this new policy, that driver would  be at risk of losing his whole livelihood.”

Mr Shah said they had recruited solicitors to look over the proposed rules with many drivers struggling to read and understand the contents. He said that the requirement of a ‘certificate of good conduct’ targeted specific communities.

“A lot of our drivers are ethnic minorities,” said Mr Shah. “So this is going to disproportionately affect them, and some of them feel targeted.”

He added: “We, as drivers, feel the policy document was very discriminatory to the community.”

Abdul Wajid, 43, has been a taxi driver for over 10 years and said that the overwhelming feeling among drivers was one of humiliation and fear. “We’re all feeling humiliated and scared,” he said.

“This is our livelihood, we have families to feed and for some of us we’re the only breadwinners. To think you could get up in the morning, turn up late to a call, and have some dirt in your cab at the end of the day and lose your job by the end, it’s terrifying.”

Abdul Hamid, 38, has been a taxi driver since 2015. He said: “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. These rules are completely unfair. If we don’t stick up for ourselves now, it will be too late for us and it will affect the next generation.”