A Stoke-on-Trent taxi firm has been stripped of its licence – after a council investigation.

Just Travel Private Hire Ltd – based in Crowther Street, Shelton – held contracts to transport pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to schools.

But Stoke-on-Trent City Council revoked the firm's private hire operator licence in 2024 after concerns were raised by Staffordshire County Council that incorrect documents had been submitted as part of four applications for passenger assistant badges.

Passenger assistants accompany SEND pupils on their taxi journeys to and from school and must go through criminal record checks and complete safeguarding training before they receive their ID badge.

Just Travel Private Hire director Muhammad Shahbaz Anwar has also failed to renew his hackney carriage vehicle licence.

Magistrates at North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard that Mr Anwar, 45, submitted passenger assistant badge applications to local authorities – and if the applicant decided not to work for his company he would provide the service for £20.

Issues were found with documentation for four applicants during compliance checks carried out by Staffordshire County Council in 2023.

Sarah Johnson, a licensing officer at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: "I received an email from the senior compliance manager from Staffordshire County Council on February 23, 2023, who advised he had serious concerns in relation to documents provided by the company.

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"There were concerns regarding if the documents were legitimate. We were contacted by them to say that Mr Anwar's contracts had been terminated for him to take children (to school) on April 12. He had 32 contracts and 55 passenger assistants."

The documentation issue related to QR codes which were supposed to link to certificates of good character issued by overseas authorities for applicants who had moved to the UK.

Ms Johnson added: "We would have expected Mr Anwar to check these QR codes and documents he received were legitimate – that's why he was referred to the (city council) licensing panel, due to dishonesty.

"He applied for badges for (applicants) to work with Just Travel. If they didn't wish to work for him they would pay £20 and move on. Mr Anwar was referred to the panel as we had had concerns from the contract provider – for them to terminate the contract was a serious matter. It is not something we take lightly."

Antony Schiller, who represented Mr Anwar, told the court: "Mr Anwar's position is documents were provided to him by applicants who had been to his office.

"He completed the form and sent it to the county council with documents he was supplied with. He was completing forms on behalf of applicants. There needs to be some evidence that Mr Anwar has done something dishonest.

"Mr Anwar was first licensed by Stoke-on-Trent City Council in October 2012. Mr Anwar as a driver has a largely unblemished record and a variety of councils have licensed him to transport schoolchildren."

Magistrates backed the decision to revoke the taxi licence and rejected Mr Anwar's appeal. Just Travel Private Hire had been allowed to continuing operating pending this week's appeal.

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One of the magistrates said: "We do not feel the appellant is a fit and proper person. There is a clear safeguarding need to protect people travelling with a badge holder. We uphold the decision to revoke the licence from Mr Anwar's company."