Those of you who have followed the campaign around taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) licensing will be pleased to hear of a new Bill being brought by my colleague, Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner.

The Bill aims to improve passenger safety by requiring licensing authorities to record license refusals, revocations and suspensions on a national database, and to check applicants’ records before making the decision to issue a license.

This would help the current situation where drivers refused a license in one local authority – often for very good reasons – can simply go to another authority with less stringent conditions and continue to drive despite not living or working there.

The Bill would also require local authorities to report wrongdoing by drivers to their licensing authority, wherever it might be, so that they can be made aware and possibly take action. This will help drive up standards across the county, and make sure that the system can’t be exploited by those who want to escape the rules.