City Licensing Laws
Driving a limousine, and even a taxi, requires a very responsible person. This not only means their driving skills but also their personal background and history. This not only goes to show what type of person they are, it also ensures that parents hiring limousines for their children to take them home from school or to the prom, have peace of mind that their children are in safe and responsible hands.
Therefore in Mobile, in America, an ordinance was passed that before anyone could get their chauffeur's license, they would have to pass an FBI background check. The only problem with this was that the FBI were so busy that they often took six months to complete the checks making it hard for new chauffeurs to get work and hard for limo hire companies to hire up and coming chauffeurs.
Therefore, the Mobile City Council have approved a new rule this month to make it easier for limousine drivers and chauffeurs to get their city licenses. The city will instead grant temporary licenses to drivers for this six month period. The temporary license will still include a background check, but only of the local police records.
The limo hire companies and taxi drivers support the background checks, as it not only protects the passengers, it protects the companies too. If they let an untrustworthy or unsafe driver join and work for their company, they are ultimately responsible for their negative actions and if the FBI checks are compulsory, the industry is safer across the board.
There is also a shortage of drivers for limousines and taxi services in the city of Mobile and the previously long recruitment process was not helping this shortage. With the faster approvals of drivers, the taxi and limo hire companies hope to pick up on business they were previously turning down because of the lack of drivers.