Call for hi-tech licences to beat taxi fraud

by David Williams, Motoring Editor

London's black-cab drivers today demanded new " tamper-proof" licences to halt the fraudulent use of taxi documents revealed by the Standard last week.

The 20,000-strong industry says the old-fashioned paper and passport-photo licences and brass-coloured badges are now far too easy to copy, allowing bogus drivers to ply for trade.

Leading figures in the trade called for a hi-tech hologram ID system similar to that used in the new photo-ID DVLA driving licence.

Rodney Lewis, editor of the Taxi Globe newspaper, said it was "high time" a new system was considered to reas-sure the public they were in safe hands in a black cab.

"Nothing is impossible to copy but the more difficult the governing Public Carriage Office makes it, the smaller the number of fraudulent licences there will be," said Mr Lewis.

Eddie Crossley, vice-chairman of the London Motor Cab Proprietors' Association, backed the call.

"The trade is deeply shocked by this revelation [about licence fraud]."

He said the association's 40 members would be "horrified" by the actions of any proprietor who sought to cheat the system, putting at risk the trade's famous worldwide reputation for safety and efficiency.

"This is the last thing we want now, while we are calling for the regulation of the minicab industry. The sooner we have a licence system that cannot be fraudulently abused, the better."

Mr Crossley said modern colour photocopiers could produce a fake that was hard to spot.

Bob Oddy, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, said both the badge and licence should be updated.

"It would take only an hour for a metalworker to make a false badge; it should also be replaced with a hologram smart card."