§ Mr. Parkerasked the Home Secretary how many complaints have been received by the Commissioner of Police in respect of contravention of regulations applying to taxicabs; and whether he will take steps to ensure that the regulations concerning public service vehicles are adhered to by taxicab drivers?
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§ Mr. H. MorrisonI regret that statistics are not kept in a form which would enable me to give the general figures for which my hon. Friend asks. The police do all they can to check offences by taxi drivers such as overcharging and refusing to be hired, and proceedings have been taken in a large number of cases, most of which have been the result of direct police observation rather than of complaints received from members of the public. As I pointed out in answer to a previous Question on this subject, it would materially help the police to take effective action if the public would make a practice of reporting full particulars in every such case which comes to their notice.