Over 130 Warrington taxis checked under joint licencing operation

Whether it’s a shopping trip for Christmas presents, travelling to see family members or heading home after a work party, many of us will be relying on taxis to get us to and from our homes this festive season.

As part of a wider operation to keep residents safe when out and about, Warrington Local Policing Unit, supported by the Motorcycle Unit, the Special Constabulary, Immigration Officers and the Warrington, Halton and Wolverhampton taxi licencing teams, launched Operation Confederation across the town to ensure that the taxis ferrying visitors and residents were correctly licenced.

The operation, which was conducted on Friday 15 to Saturday 16 November and Friday 6 December to Saturday 7 December respectively, revolved around officers conducting inspections of both locally licenced taxis and those licenced in other council areas that operated in Warrington.

Whilst this is not illegal for taxis in licenced in other areas to operate in Warrington, it makes it much harder for drivers and vehicles to be safety checked by local authorities to ensure that they are suitable to transport the public.

Over the four nights, officers were deployed to the Bank Quay and Central stations, a main hub for taxis registered both in and outside of Warrington. Whilst at the ranks, officers from both the LPU, Warrington and Halton Council and Wolverhampton council engaged with the drivers and conducted a number of safety checks, including: making sure all vehicle lights were fully operational, drivers were in possession of their IDs and, where appropriate, CCTV cameras were in operation.

During the first weekend, the Motorcycle Unit was utilised to create a checkpoint for stopping vehicles along Winwick Road and Stockton Heath and close to the M6 junction at the top of Manchester Road. These checkpoints were not used during the second weekend due to the impact of Storm Darragh.

In total, over the two weekends officers checked over 130 taxis, with most of the breaches of licencing being minor, mainly concerning drivers who were not correctly displaying their ID badges - which under legislation needed to be physically viewable on their person on a lanyard and another present in the vehicle itself.

However all were able to produce their IDs when asked.

Other highlights from the weekends of operation included:

• The issuing of a community resolution to a passenger who was in the possession of cannabis
• The stopping of an Uber that was not displaying proper signage, a breach of licence conditions. This driver was also issued with a traffic report as his number plates did not comply with regulations and was reported to the DVLA by due to concerns with the his driving licence
• A vehicle seized after it was spotted driving with a light out and its driver found to be in possession of a provisional licence
• Three vehicles being given defect notifications for issues such as lights out, bald tyres and unsafe vehicle panels

Inspector Christopher Webster, of Warrington LPU's Neighbourhood Team, said:

"With the busyness of the festive period in mind, Warrington Neighbourhood Police, supported by Road Policing and local partners including immigration and taxi licencing officers for Halton, Warrington and Wolverhampton came together to launch Operation Confederations, an operation focusing on licensed passenger vehicles.

"The aim of Operation Confederation is to provide reassurance to those using taxis in Warrington, that they are safe to use and road worthy with enforcement action being taken where appropriate. It was really reassuring to see that so many of the taxis that operate in our town were compliant with the appropriate legislation, with the few found to be in breach being swiftly removed from the road.

"Our officers will continue to support the legitimate taxi drivers in Warrington throughout December, with this operation continuing well in to the festive period and new year to ensure those enjoying a night out in Warrington can return home safely."