Bradford councillors have stopped short of a blanket ban on taxi drivers convicted of indecency.

Now each case will be judged individually.

New regulations covering licensing and enforcement procedures were approved at yesterday's meeting of Bradford Council highways sub-committee.

But a Bradford councillor complained the measures did not go far enough.

Coun Anne Hawkesworth (Con, Ilkley), the chief whip of the Council's Tory group, said the regulations which come into force on December 7 meant that "anyone who has been convicted of an indecent offence could still become a cab driver".

She said: "You would just not feel safe, and as a Council we are sending out a message that such a driver is fit and proper to be driving women and children around. I think there should be a system where people with indecency offences should automatically be barred from applying for licences.

"I consider a person, or child, is in an extremely vulnerable position riding in a taxi at night across the moorlands in this district."

Drivers who now apply for licences and who have been convicted for indecency offences will have their application for a licence refused if they re-apply for a new one within three years. If it is more than three years since conviction, it will be left to Council members to decide whether to accept or reject the application.

The new regulations also include up to 24 weeks suspension for drivers illegally plying for work.

Sub-committee chairman Philip Thornton said the Council was sending out a clear message to drivers: "If you don't break the rules you have nothing to worry about."

Those applying for a licence would undergo a police check which would detail any convictions, however long ago they were committed, he said.

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