More than 90% of taxi drivers in parts of England "not properly insured"

Leaked research suggests that more than 90% of taxis in parts of England are not properly insured, according to the BBC.

The report said checks had been made on 1,200 licensed minicab and hackney carriage drivers in local authority areas outside London.

The research – carried out by insurance auditors and leaked to the broadcaster – suggested that in many cases drivers’ insurance failed on one or two clauses. In other cases, the drivers had no insurance.

Some brokers had sold incorrect insurance to drivers, the BBC reported, while some drivers had provided false information to insurers.

An insurance industry source claimed that local authority licensing officers “don’t have the ability to validate what is behind the [insurance] certificate”. The source called on councils to run checks against the Motor Insurance Database “as a bare minimum”.

The National Private Hire Association argued that the sample size for the audit was too small and unrepresentative.

Paul Bettison, chairman of the Local Government Association, told the BBC that councils could “only take insurance documentation on face value”.