It was an emotional moment last week as the Taxi & Private Hire Vehicles Safeguarding Legislation was granted Royal Assent, meaning it became law.
This follows years of hard work and campaigning by Elaine Pickford & Liam O’Callaghan (mother & brother of Sian O’Callaghan), Justin Tomlinson MP (who launched the campaign in Parliament back in 2018), Cllr Kate Tomlinson (who has worked closely with Elaine & Liam on women’s safety), Robert Buckland MP (who helped create the legislation with Peter Gibson MP) & the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.
The new Bill will make it mandatory for licensing authorities to access vital background information about drivers seeking a licence in their areas. This will support the work of councils to ensure anyone using a taxi or private hire vehicle (PHV) is kept safe.
In 2018, Sian’s mum Elaine joined forces with Justin & Kate Tomlinson to host a campaign launch in Parliament which called for increased safety measures for people getting into a taxi including vital background information on drivers seeking to become taxi drivers.
This followed the tragic events in 2011 when Sian O’Callaghan was picked up by taxi driver Christopher Halliwell and murdered following a night out in Swindon.
They were joined by other campaigners from across the country, including Sami Woodhouse, a victim of the Rotherham Abuse scandal where many of the abusers drove taxis to pick up young victims.
Robert Buckland MP joined the campaign and together, the Swindon MPs and campaigners managed to get enough support for the legislation to finally make its way through Parliament, which was confirmed last week.
Sian’s family released the following statement last week:
“As a family the raw pain of losing someone so special in an horrendous way is so difficult. However we take pride in the fact that Sian's name and legacy is now intertwined with this law set out to improve safety, better protecting passengers and hardworking law abiding drivers themselves.
We would like to personally thank Peter Gibson MP for taking the Bill through parliament. Saskia Garner from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust for her tireless campaigning alongside Kate Tomlinson for women’s safety. The Rt Hon Robert Buckland MP and Justin Tomlinson MP for listening, supporting and driving this forward over the last 4 years.
This law by way of sharing information across local authorities and improving the safety checks. Will go some way to ensuring drivers with criminal motive are not able to manipulate the system to gain licenses.
Thank you.”
Liam O'Callaghan & Elaine Pickford, brother and mother to Sian O'Callaghan
Both Justin & Robert also praised the work of Elaine & Liam. They commented, “Thanks to Elaine & Liam, Sian’s legacy is now helping to keep millions of people in our country safer. They have used their pain as a family to harness support for a new law which we are pleased to have supported and helped push through Parliament. Their endless determination has been so admirable given the tragic events they have had to endure, and we look forward to working with them on more campaigns in the future.”
