Bolsover District Council is sending its taxi and private hire drivers a Home Office guide on county lines. The licensing team is not announcing a new licence condition. It is asking drivers to learn the signs and to report them. The guide was written by the National County Lines Coordination Centre in April 2026. The guide
County lines means gangs moving drugs from one area to another, often by exploiting children and vulnerable adults to carry the drugs, the cash or a weapon. The council says taxis and private hire cars are used because they are ordinary, bookable and do not stand out.
What to notice
The guide says you do not investigate and you do not challenge the passenger. Being alert is enough. It lists journeys that should raise concern:
A child or a vulnerable adult who seems to be controlled by someone else, or who is frightened, quiet, or unsure where they are going.
Someone else directing the trip, or speaking for the passenger.
A request to avoid the police, or to take an unusual route.
A large cash fare, or extra money offered for secrecy.
Repeated short trips, or the same address again and again. People coming and going at a vulnerable person's home can be a sign the address has been taken over.
Several phones, or constant calls.
Being asked to carry a package instead of a passenger, including a package the passenger says they have not looked inside.
The Department for Transport's statutory standards add the journeys that training should cover: a child travelling alone, travel in school hours or late at night, a long trip, a passenger who does not know the area, and a cash or prepaid fare. Statutory standards
What to do
Put your own safety first. If you reasonably suspect the job is illegal, end it. You do not need proof.
If someone is in immediate danger, contact the police. If it is not immediate, the statutory standards say use the council's safeguarding route, usually the safeguarding lead, or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Bolsover's published switchboard is 01246 242424.
Clive Moesby, the councillor responsible for community safety, said drivers are out late and see things other people do not, and that ignoring it puts the passenger and the driver at risk.
Why the guide says a fare is not a defence
The centre says carrying on with a job when you strongly suspect drugs are involved can itself be treated as assisting supply. It also says the Modern Slavery Act 2015 can cover arranging travel when you know, or ought to know, that the person may be exploited, and that a fare earned from that work can be seized. Failing to act on a concern about a child can leave that child at risk. Those are the guide's warnings. They are not a finding that any Bolsover driver has committed an offence.