Scandal drivers axed – dirty dozen off the road

A dozen drivers of taxis, buses and rideshare vehicles have been taken off the road in the wake of an IT bungle that allowed people to register for licences without criminal record checks.

More drivers are also under investigation as authorities move to clean up the error that began in July 2018.

In March it was revealed that almost 3000 drivers of commercial passenger vehicles may have been illegally on the road with a criminal record for years.

​The licensing system used to match applications with police data did not work for 2.5 years, with an internal probe later revealing 2950 names that matched criminal records.

Victoria Police and Commercial Passenger Vehicles Victoria (CPVV) launched an urgent audit to check every name that was flagged. Of those names, one driver has had their licence cancelled while 11 have had their registration suspended.

Another person is facing disciplinary action and 42 others are still being investigated. All records were checked within four weeks and about 20 per cent were genuine matches with criminal records, although some included small offences such as speeding fines. Other motorists flagged were already known to authorities or were being investigated.

CPVV is responsible for the licences of taxis, rideshare vehicles, bus drivers, and for driving instructors.

Transport Matters MP, Rod Barton, said the sector had little confidence in the regulator.

“These results reinforce our view the minister should have frozen the expansion of the Multi-Purpose Taxi Program while we had these people out there. We didn’t know what the situation was until the review was completed,” he said.

More news in our April 2021 Edition here.