A KIRKLEES Council official will sit on a national group looking at improving taxi safety countrywide.
The council's licensing manager Douglas Holliday will become a member of the Department of Transport's steering group.
The move comes just days after four youths were convicted of murdering Huddersfield taxi driver Mohammad Parvaiz.
Two other teenagers were convicted of violent disorder surrounding the incident which led to the 41-year-old father -of-three being beaten to death in Golcar late one night last July.
All six are yet to be sentenced.
Mr Holliday will attend meetings in London which will research the personal security problems affecting taxi and private hire drivers and what can be done to improve the situation.
The Department of Transport will be looking at schemes that already exist and decide if anything more can be done before making recommendations to the Department of Transport and other organisations dealing with driver safety.
As part of the investigation, the steering group will collect information from driver associations, licensing authorities, police and community safety managers.
They will also interview taxi drivers, managers and controllers.
Mr Holliday, who has been with Kirklees Council since 1974, said: "Our taxi drivers are already trained in safety as a condition of their licences and have been since 1997.
"Kirklees has been a leader in this field and regularly updates the training course to advise drivers on personal safety issues."
Chairman of Kirklees Licen- sing Committee Clr David Sheard said: "People who use taxis should just take a step back and think where they would be without a taxi service. They may then more fully appreciate the service they receive and support and treat with respect those people who provide the service.
"We want everyone to be able to travel and move around in safety. That includes the taxi drivers who provide the service."
