Safeguarding Passengers: How to Spot County Lines Child Exploitation

According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), County Lines gangs are those that are involved in the illegal transport of drugs from one area to another. These gangs often exploit children or vulnerable young people by forcing them to ferry illicit substances across police and local authority boundaries. County Lines actually refers to the mobile phone line used to orchestrate the orders of drugs as opposed to the act of travelling across county borders.  

The young people and children targeted by these gangs are often those that are already in vulnerable positions. In many cases, those recruited by gangs suffer from mental health or addiction problems which makes them much easier targets for exploitation. These young people often don’t appreciate that they are being exploited as they are often groomed from a young age by the gangs to become part of their criminal networks.   

Taxi and private hire (PH) drivers have a unique role in the identification of those being exploited in County Lines gangs. Taxi services are often a preferred method of transport for these gangs as they can bypass security measures found on train services and other forms of public transport. The Home Office has published general guidance to assist drivers in identifying potential victims. Outlined in the new standards, the key signs to look out for are:  

• Children as young as 12 travelling alone  

• Are they travelling during school hours, or unusual hours (early hours of the morning, late at night)?  

• Are they a long way from home, unfamiliar with the local area, or have a non-local accent?  

• Are they travelling a long distance?  

• Are they paying for their journeys in cash?  

According to the NSPCC, there are also several slang phrases that can be used to help identify young people involved in County Lines gangs, the more common of these are:  

• ‘running a line’,  

• ‘going OT/out there’  

• ‘going country’  

• ‘going cunch’.  

This list is far from comprehensive and slang can vary significantly from place to place. If you encounter slang or words that you’re unfamiliar with then the Urban Dictionary can be an incredible resource for research.  

The identification of these exploited children is likely one of the determining factors behind safeguarding training being mandated in the new Taxi and PH Vehicle Standards. Research carried out by TaxiPlus prior to the pandemic found that around 52% of drivers weren’t sure of how to report safeguarding concerns. We strongly believe that now that safeguarding training has been made compulsory this statistic should reduce significantly.   

If you have encountered a young person who you think is being exploited by gangs, report it. There are a few ways you can go about this:  

• If you think a child is in immediate danger, contact the police by dialling 999  

• Contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111  

• Your organisation should have a policy for dealing with these situations, in the first instance, you should follow the procedure set out there for reporting and recording your concerns.   

If you are searching for further information and resources on how you can help contribute to the prevention of County Lines exploitation and drug trafficking, you can find the Home Offices full collection here.   

For more information on TaxiPlus’ CPD accredited Trust2Ride Safeguarding Framework, get in touch! You can drop us an email at hello@taxiplus.co.uk or give us a call on 01254 355679.