At High Gear we have always held the taxi driver in high regard, understanding that they have to practice in a manner that is socially responsible. The area of Woking have this week come round to our way of thinking, wanting to roll out Child sexual exploitation training to the drivers of Woking. Asking councillors for their support on January 19, chairman Councillor Carl Thomson said local governing bodies need to be aware of the role the taxi trade can play both in facilitating or combatting exploitation. “I think this is quite a timely thing for us to be looking at in a borough like us where we’ve got a large number of taxi drivers,” Cllr Thomson said. “I think the training could be quite useful particularly in communities where tax drivers might come from diverse backgrounds and could certainly benefit from help and understanding their responsibilities and what they need to look out for and how they are impacted by laws on trafficking and exploitation.” Could this put people off joining the trade? With a strenuous training process already in place for taxi drivers some worry that another course could be detrimental to the introduction of new blood into the industry. Councillor Liam Lyons said: “Some of it can actually be dangerous, if it’s not taught in the right way it can actually teach people who are involved or intend to be involved in CSE, how to hide their tracks more carefully.” “As it is at the moment, you have the enhanced CRB check, DVLA drivers check, medical, DVLA taxi test and knowledge test,” she said. “It can take anywhere from three to six months to complete. This puts people off, adding yet another course on top is going to do this further.” Let us know what you think, is this proposed training regime a necessity or a waste of money? Leave your comments below.