Under pressure - in my view entirely justified pressure - Boris Johnson and TfL are having second thoughts about a system they had set up. The public notice reads as follows:

QUOTE

Transport for London – Taxi Driver Licence Checker

As you may be aware, in December 2011 an online taxi driver and vehicle licence checker was launched on the Transport for London (TfL) website.
The main purpose of the online licence checker was to enable users to enter a driver’s name or badge number, or a vehicle registration and confirm whether that driver or vehicle was currently licensed by TfL.

It was primarily intended that this checker would benefit anyone who wished to confirm the licence status of a driver or vehicle. This includes the Metropolitan and City of London Police, taxi proprietors, anyone operating or setting up a taxi booking service and members of the public.

Soon after its launch, TfL were contacted by various taxi driver groups and individuals expressing concern about their name being made available. As a result of these concerns, the service was disabled on 19 December 2011 to allow time to review the situation and address the concerns.

It is important to note that TfL did not publish the address details of taxi drivers. The information that was made available through the licence checker was:

Taxi Drivers
•
Name
•
Badge number
•
Licence area (All London or Suburban)
•
Licence expiry date

Taxi Vehicles
•
Registration
•
Make
•
Model
•
Licence expiry date

At a recent meeting between the Mayor, the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) and TfL, the Mayor provided a commitment to the LTDA that taxi driver names would not be made available through such a facility in the future.

UNQUOTE.