'There's not a lot of grey in it': Winnipeg denies 16 cab licences due to convictions, driving offences

Late one night in 2007, Winnipeg cab driver Jagmohan Singh stopped at a friend's house for a drinkafter his shift was over.

On his way home, he was stopped by police, and eventually convicted of impaired driving in 2011.

LawyerSid Soronow says it's the only black mark on Singh's record over the course of a 22-year cab-driving career.

Nonetheless, the City of Winnipeg took away Singh'slicence thisDecemberunder a tough provision of the city's relatively new vehicle-for-hire bylaw: Anyone convicted of a serious moving violation or what the city calls a "relevant criminal offence"over the past 10 years is automatically denied a cab licence.

"There's not a lot of discretion under that," said Grant Heather, Winnipeg's vehicle-for-hire manager, who's ultimately responsible regulating cab companies, ride-hailing firms such as TappCar and limousine services.

"I have a bylaw I have to follow. There's not a lot of grey in it."

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Since March 1, 2018, when the city took over taxi regulation from the province, Winnipeg has denied taxi licences to 16 drivers.

Six had been convicted of "relevantcriminal offences" sexual assault, drug trafficking and extortion all fall under thiscategory while 10 others were convicted of serious moving violations, such as impaired driving, Heather said.

The automatic nature of the denials serves a purpose, Heather said,

"[We're] making sure that the people who are often providing service to vulnerable people are not in any way a risk to society," he said in an interview.

"People may be intoxicated and may not always be able to communicate the way they should, or know where they're going. So it's really important a high level of customer service is provided."

The denied licences only represent a small fraction of the 1,882licensed taxi drivers inWinnipeg. And the denials are not set in stone.

Denied drivers may appeal the decision before the city's new vehicles-for-hire appeal board, a council subcommittee that began meeting last May.

Unlike the old provincial taxicab board, this committee meets in public. It's made up of a trio of citizen appointees.

"There's quite a bit of transparency here," said Heather, who speaks to the board but is not one of its members."Everyone can see what the city's decision is rooted in, that it's based on the bylaw."

On Friday, the appeal board heard requests for reinstatement from four taxi drivers whose licences were denied, including Jagmohan Singh.

He was able to get his licence back. Lawyer Soronow noted his client, now 59, was stopped by police more than a decade ago, although he was convicted within the 10-year period that triggered the denial of his licence.

Soronow also noted Singh has an otherwise perfect driving record and has learned from his actions in 2007.

"Here is a man with one blemish in 22 years," Soronow said.

Heather said the public nature of the appeal processhelps shed light on an industry that still has a ways to go in restoring public trust.

"I think that's there's still improvements that could be made to safety and customer service," he said.

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The city does not, however, check the criminal records of people who drive for limousine companies and ride-hailing apps. Those companies are required to conduct those checks, under penalty if the city determines they've failed to conduct this screening, Heather said.

To date, the city has yet to catch one of these companies failing to screen its drivers. But the Winnipeg Parking Authority, which enforces regulation for all Winnipeg vehicles for hire, has handed out 204 tickets since the city's enforcement started in May 2018.

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The vast majority of these infractions 178 were given to taxi drivers who failed to properly display their licences. But the city also issued tickets for more serious infractions, including three instances of operating a taxi without a valid licence, four cases of providing transportation servicewithout alicence and six incidents where vehicles were dispatched without a licence.

Cab licences denied due to convictions, driving offences

6 years ago

Duration 2:21

Winnipeg cab drivers with serious moving violations or criminal records are seeing their licenses suspended.