A TAXI driver who allegedly repeatedly raped a 10-year-old girl with profound hearing difficulties in Sydney’s southwest has been charged.

Detectives from the Child Abuse Squad arrested and charged a 64-year-old taxi driver yesterday in relation to the alleged indecent and sexual assaults.

The arrest was made following reports to police late last year the taxi driver, a Fairfield resident, had allegedly assaulted the girl as he transported her to and from school.

The offences, which are alleged to have occurred on a number of occasions in 2009 when the girl was aged 10 and 11, took place in the vehicle the man used to transport her to and from school.

At the time, the man worked for a company contracted to transport children to and from schools.

On a number of occasions, the man allegedly picked the girl and other children up from their schools in south-western Sydney.

After dropping all of the other children off at their homes, the man would allegedly park his vehicle a few streets away from the girl’s home and assault her.

The man was arrested at Liverpool police station yesterday and charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault, two counts of aggravated sexual assault of child under 16, two counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child under 10-14 years (physically impaired), one count of attempted sexual intercourse with a child over 10 years and under 14 years.

The man was refused bail and will next appear in Campbelltown Local Court on May 28.

Now the NSW Council has called for any cabbies found guilty of sexually assaulting passengers to be banned from driving taxis for life

``We believe there should be stronger penalties for taxi drivers who have been convicted and found guilty of sexual assault against passengers,’’ said NSW Taxi Council CEO Roy Wakelin-King.

``Drivers take on a position of trust and where that trust is breached, such as sexual assault, there should be increased penalties and that should include life-time bans for driving a taxi,’’ he said.

Mr Wakelin-King said rigorous background checks are done on taxi drivers, especially ones involved in the assisted school travel program for the NSW Department of Education.

The vast majority of the 20,000 taxi drivers in NSW do the right thing, he said.

NSW Taxi Driver Association president Anne Turner says there needs to be tougher taxi licencing regulations.

``They give you a licence within a couple of months. I think it should go longer than that,’’ she told Macquarie Radio.