Richard's Good News Story of the Week concerned a constituent who was having trouble renewing his private hire driving licence.
"Once upon a time I was a transport minister and I know how important it is that we have a proper and thorough approval process in place for those who want a licence to drive a taxi or private hire vehicle. But when the system gets in the way and causes unnecessary delays, it can have a serious impact on someone’s livelihood.
I was contacted by Mr J from Laindon who had been working as a cab driver for nearly 5 years. He had applied to renew his licence in the summer, and despite the successful completion of the required DBS check, he had still not received his new licence months later.
So, after exhausting all other lines of inquiry, he got in touch. With only a fortnight left on his current licence, he would have been unable to continue working if the new licence had not been approved pronto. We contacted TFL and thankfully his new licence was finally approved with two days to spare allowing him to carry on without any impact on his livelihood.
As always, if you’ve tried everything else and have got stuck in the system, my team and I can help to try and resolve an issue, please contact me."
