If your teenage son or daughter enjoys a late night out with friends at the weekend you probably don't worry about them quite so much if you know they are coming home by taxi.

Like me, you probably take comfort from the fact that taxi drivers are licensed by the local authority and therefore should be honest and trustworthy people.

The vast majority of them obviously are. But I was shocked to discover that being licensed doesn't actually give that guarantee.

Kerrier council tells me, for example, that out of the 158 taxi drivers operating within its district, 35 of them have a criminal record. Their crimes include theft, misuse of drugs, assault, public order offences and harassment.

Astonishingly, exact records of the criminal convictions aren't available. The council doesn't keep these on file for fear of breaking the much abused and much misunderstood Data Protection Act.

Indeed, because of this same Act - and a couple of other legal bunkum excuses - neighbouring Carrick council refused to tell me how many taxi drivers operating in the Truro and Falmouth areas have a criminal record.

Carrick lawyers turned down a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act and, in fact, expressed surprise that Kerrier had obliged.

I find it astonishing that a teenage girl could be getting alone into a taxi in the early hours of the morning with a driver who might have a history of drug abuse, assault or harassment. In fact, taxis are also used on school runs, with drivers taking sole responsibility for young children. Would you be happy entrusting your child to a criminal?

Anyone applying for a licence to drive a taxi has to undergo a criminal record check. But what's the point of this exercise when the results are ignored?

At least Kerrier council has the courage to admit that it is taking risks with public safety. Carrick's officials prefer to hide the truth from us.

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The Liberal Democrats have a long history of devious and mischievous election tactics.

I have on more than one occasion seen some rather disingenuous claims and at the last general election they even had the cheek to bombard the Falmouth and Camborne constituency with leaflets which appeared to imply that I endorsed their candidate Julia Goldsworthy (which, for the record, I didn't, although I correctly predicted that she would win).

The latest Liberal Democrat election propaganda to catch my eye is a leaflet called "end of term report," which is being circulated in Falmouth. The leaflet says: "It is worth noting that for a Band D property, neighbouring Kerrier council is over 20% more expensive than Carrick."

This claim intrigued me, so I investigated further. The Liberal Democrat controlled Carrick council charges a Band D council tax payer £1,371 in Falmouth. In Camborne, Redruth, Helston and Porthleven - controlled by the independent Kerrier council - Band D householders pay between £1,317 and £1,337 in council tax. True, the district council element of local tax is greater in Kerrier than in Carrick, but you pay more overall in Falmouth because the Liberal Democrat controlled town council adds a huge chunk on top of the district and county charges - an inflation-busting 4.8% increase this year!

The Liberal Democrat leaflet also fails to remind us that Cornwall county council, which their party controls, also jacked up council tax by more than double the official rate of inflation this year.

In fact, the Liberal Democrats raised council tax in Cornwall by the maximum amount allowed by the government. How much would we have had to pay if Gordon Brown hadn't capped them?

As the old saying goes, there are lies, damned lies and statistics.