The A-Z test has been axed from Birmingham private hire applications prompting fears it we lead to more drivers with a poorer grasp of English.

The city council has removed the element of the examination, where candidates are asked to use the iconic map book to plot a course from one point to another, stating most people are failing it because they rely on satnavs instead.

Council officials believe as a result many drivers are choosing to obtain licences from elsewhere only to operate in Birmingham.

It comes following reports that scores of private hire drivers in the city have been licensed in Wolverhampton where the process is cheaper, quicker and less demanding.

Library photo of waiting taxis
Library photo of waiting taxis

The major concern is that Birmingham City Council has no enforcement powers over those drivers if there is a complaint.

The licensing and public protection committee today (Wednesday, June 20) approved the changes to its private hire knowledge exam which also included the ability to test multiple applicants at one time and change all questions to multiple choice.

But concerns were raised that the move may lower the standard of taxi drivers in the city and lead to more operators who cannot speak English fluently.

Cllr Barbara Dring, committee chairman, referred to recent reports which stated more than 100 taxi drivers had been licensed by the council despite having criminal records.

She said: "I hope if we go down this road it's not going to be a lowering of the standard.

"Public safety and suitability are important. At the moment we are in the limelight."

While Manawar Hussain, chairman of T.O.A Taxis who was allowed to comment, said: "You have to consider the practicalities on the street.

"If an applicant can't read an A to Z or can't communicate with a passenger or can't read an address how is he going to transport that passenger to the location?"

He argued the main problem facing the city taxi trade was the 2015 Deregulation Act which allows drivers to gain a licence in one area and operate in another.

But Chris Neville, acting director of regulation and enforcement, reassured that standards would be upheld whilst telling the committee Cllr Dring had written to ministers explaining about the problem of drivers being licensed elsewhere.

He said: "I don't believe this will result in drivers being licensed who can't speak English. We would detect that beforehand.

"This test doesn't review drivers' ability to read. We do test the ability to read it's simply not a face-to-face, one-to-one test.

"We wouldn't put this forward if we thought it would be detrimental to standards."

Shawn Woodcock, licence operations manager, also stated the current backlog of applications would be cleared in six weeks as a result of the changes.