A CRACKDOWN has started on a licensing loophole which Council bosses believe could leave some minicab drivers not fully insured.

Bradford Council's licensing officials have become growing increasingly concerned at the number of cabbies in Bradford who are getting their licenses from other local authorities.

Council bosses were worried that the move was being used as a way to avoid Bradford’s notoriously high insurance premiums, so earlier this year they decided to tighten the rules around the practice.

Now, private hire operators who take on such drivers must prove the cabbies have told their insurers they will be predominately based in Bradford – or the operators risk losing their own licence.

But with the new regulations coming into effect, some private hire firms say the paperwork burden is proving a nightmare for them.

Azad Khan, owner of 1st Choice Private Hire, Keighley, said: "Bradford Council is trying to put the burden on us.

"The Council is trying to tell us to do their dirty work. It's nothing to do with us.

"They can't stop these drivers from working in other areas. It's not up to me to tell them they can't work. The Council should try to change the law."

Under the law, cabbies can get a hackney carriage licence from one area and then work as a private hire driver throughout the country.

But the practice has sparked concerns locally, as other local authorities have different standards for drivers' criminal records, vehicle safety and other licensing criteria including knowledge tests.

The tighter operators' regulations were brought in after the Council’s regulatory and appeals committee debated the issue in January. Operators also have to prove the vehicles have undergone safety checks.

Khurram Shehzad, chairman of Bradford Private Hire Liaison Service, said: "I'm disgusted that the Council are using the operators to get these out-of-town licensed drivers out.

"I think they are doing it because the money for the licensing is going out of Bradford.”

But Councillor David Warburton, chairman of the regulatory and appeals committee, refuted this claim and said the resolutions were brought in to protect the public by making sure all drivers were properly insured to work in Bradford.

He said: "It's about safety and security.

"It's not a clamp down, it's making sure the public are safe. We have a duty of care to the public. If anything untoward happens, the public are safe.”

He said the authority did “not want to stop people working” and drivers were still free to get their licenses from other areas if they wanted to.

A Council spokesman added: "These conditions to private hire operators’ licenses were introduced to ensure the safety of the public by providing proof that all taxis operating in Bradford are properly safety checked and insured, wherever their licence is issued."

And not all private hire bosses are against the move.

Stuart Hastings, boss of private hire firm Metro Keighley, said he backed Bradford Council's tightening of the rules “absolutely, without a doubt”, as all drivers should be properly insured.

Mr Hastings, who also heads up Keighley Private Hire Association, said: “If you said to your insurer you work in a different area and it is proven you work in Bradford, then there's a reason they have not to pay out.”

A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers said cab drivers who misled their insurer about where they did the majority of their work “may find that they will not be covered if their vehicle is stolen or damaged”.

She said: “However innocent third parties, such as passengers or other drivers, would be covered if they are injured in an accident, either by the taxi owner’s insurer or through a fund which compensates the victims of uninsured drivers.”