Administrators for Manganese Bronze, which went into administration in October after taxi sales were suspended, said that all 401 vehicles were now back on the road

More than 400 taxis that were recalled due to faulty steering have been fixed, two months after they were taken off the road owing to safety fears.

The recall by taxi maker Manganese Bronze led to its collapse into administration in October after sales of the faulty vehicles were suspended.

Negotiations to find a buyer continue, and 12 production staff who were laid off have been re-employed to fit the new steering boxes.

The company’s administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said all 401 cabs were back on the road and workers at its Coventry production line will start to fix the 600 largely new and unregistered vehicles affected.

However, 99 of 176 employees were made redundant following the appointment of the administrators.

Matthew Hammond, PwC partner and joint administrator, said he was delighted the taxis were now repaired. He added: “Although it’s too early to say definitively, we are hopeful that we will sell the business as a going concern.”

The second phase of fixing the remaining taxis should be completed by the end of February and at a faster rate than the first 401, because most are in the single location on the production line.

It took the company, which built its first black cab in 1948, nearly a month to find a solution to the steering box issues on its TX4 models and another month to fix the vehicles affected.

Source: BBC Online

The administrators of Manganese Bronze, the Coventry-based company that makes London black cabs, are making 156 staff redundant with immediate effect. The announcement from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) comes just a day after it said it was in talks with an “encouraging” list of parties interested in the company’s rescue.

The redundancies account for more than half of the firm’s 274 UK employees. The Unite union said it was outraged at the “ruthless sacking” of staff.

PwC were officially appointed as administrators of the firm on Tuesday and had said they were looking at options to dispose of the business to an investor who could secure the future manufacturing of the black cab.

They said they had been appointed due to a “combination of poor UK sales, supply chain issues, and high warranty costs”, compounded by accounting errors discovered in the first half of 2012 and the discovery of a steering fault that led to the recall of about 400 vehicles and a suspension of sales.

But in a statement on Wednesday, PwC said: “Regretfully, without financial support to overcome the group’s operational issues we have had to make staff redundancies. “While the steering box recall remains, there is a voluntary suspension on vehicle sales, and we are now concentrating all resources on testing the solution to the steering fault.

“We have retained sufficient numbers of staff across the dealership, head office and production network to address the operational, technical and financial circumstances that the business faces.”

Unite national officer for the automotive industry, Roger Maddison, said: “Only last night PwC were telling us there were significant interested parties. Now the administrators are ruthlessly sacking over 150 highly skilled workers at the iconic black cab maker.

“The black cabs are world famous and we believe this company has a future. How can PwC treat this company as a going concern with virtually no staff? “The black cab is part of Britain’s car manufacturing heritage. The government must now be on standby to save this historic company from being left to the vultures.

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Source: Reuters

Manganese Bronze, maker of London’s black taxi, said it is set to appoint administrators after failing to secure funding needed to survive, putting hundreds of British jobs at risk.

Manganese Bronze, whose taxis have been on British streets since 1948, had been in talks with its largest shareholders, including China’s Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, to secure a last-minute bailout.

“The issue here was not a lack of opportunity around the quantum of support being offered,” Chief Executive John Russell told Reuters on Monday. “It was around the ability of Manganese Bronze, a company with a very weak balance sheet, to take on the level of debt required.”

Russell said the company had discussed an injection of “tens of millions” of pounds with parties including the company’s two largest shareholders, Geely and Toscafund Asset Management. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers is set to be appointed as administrator.

Earlier this month, the company had said its financial position was unclear after the discovery of a safety defect in its new TX4 model that led to a recall of 400 taxis and a halt to sales.

The recall was the latest in a spate of issues that have plagued the taxi maker which coincided with market share gains by rival Eco City Vehicles’s Mercedes Vito taxi. Japan’s Nissan Motor Co Ltd is also due to launch its own taxi in Britain.

Manganese Bronze, based in Coventry, in central England, has failed to turn a profit since 2007. It suspended trading in its shares earlier this month.

“It’s a great shame, because they (Manganese Bronze) build the best cab in the world, but it’s no surprise. They never listened to the drivers,” said Michael, driver of a Manganese cab in the capital for 30 years. He pointed to the cost of the vehicles (at least 37,000 pounds per car), high maintenance bills and a lack of after sales support.

“They took it for granted, were too complacent, thought we’d always go back to them and buy another cab but the drivers aren’t doing that anymore.”

Britain’s Unite union called on the British government to support the firm and protect the 300 UK jobs at risk.

“We’re hopeful that somehow or another somebody’s going to be able to resurrect it, either the liquidators or someone’s going to come in and take it over,” said Steve MacNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association. “We’re concerned because the black cab is a great iconic part of London.”

As well as technical difficulties, Manganese has been hit by a weak economy and delays in fulfilling key orders. Manganese Bronze sold 1,502 taxis last year, 9 percent fewer than in 2010.

Earlier this year, it found a 3.9 million pound hole in its accounts causing a delay to the release of its half year results. They were eventually published late last month with the firm reporting a pretax loss of 4.6 million pounds on sales 11 percent lower than the same period a year ago.

Russell said it was still “in dialogue” with Geely after talks over funding broke down last week. “Geely will be involved in the process of administration and they will make their decision to be a part of the outcome,” said Russell.

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Source: Lancashire Telegraph

A FAMILY said they were left angry and embarrassed when two specially adapted black cabs refused to carry their wheelchair user son. Blackburn mum Anette McDermott and her son Darrell, 26, were shopping with their disabled son and brother Ashley, 24 when they claim they were told, ‘I don’t do wheelchairs’ by one driver and waved away by a second.

The pair said both drivers outside Blackburn market were driving newer model cabs, designed to accommodate wheelchairs. Now Blackburn with Darwen Council is set to investigate what happened.

The trio were laden down with bags and were looking for a disability adapted cab in order to get Ashley, who suffers from cerebral palsy and epilepsy, home. Their story has angered disability campaigner and former Hyndburn mayor Malcolm Pritchard who said the licences of the drivers involved should be investigated.

The McDermotts said the first cab driver, whose taxi was equipped with a ramp, gave no reason for his refusal while another with an adapted taxi said he had an injured arm. Darrell, 26, who is his brother’s full time carer, said: “Ashley knew he was being turned down for a cab and it was upsetting for him. The first guy who turned us away just waved at us and didn’t give a reason, even though his taxi has a ramp.

“The second one said ‘I don’t do wheelchairs’ and another driver said he had a bad arm and couldn’t lift anything. “I explained I would do all the lifting, but that wasn’t good enough. He just wouldn’t let us.”

Anette, who works full time with disabled children at Oswaldtwistle’s Hargreaves House, said the cab drivers’ refusal to let them in the taxi caused an embarrassing scene which upset her son. She said: “People were starting to gather and stare and we just had to walk away.”

Coun Pritchard, whose son Mark is also a wheelchair user, said: “I think this family having to go through this is disgusting. They deserve to be treated with a bit of dignity and not discriminated against in that way. I think the provision of cabs and drivers for the disabled in Blackburn needs to be urgently looked into to.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council said it was illegal for drivers to refuse to carry a wheelchair user without a medical exemption certificate and they would fully investigate all complaints.

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Source: The Telegraph

The troubled maker of famous London taxis was thrown into further turmoil today after it announced plans to recall 400 black cabs and suspend sales after discovering a steering box fault.

Manganese Bronze said it had discovered a defect with new steering boxes in its TX4 models, which were introduced in production at its Coventry factory in late February.

It warned that the recall and sales suspension would have a “material and detrimental” impact on its cashflow and said it was looking at options for the firm.

The news comes as the latest blow to the company, which has been hit by mounting losses and a recent accounting blunder that left it with a £4m hole in its accounts.

Manganese, which suspended trading of its shares earlier in the day, said it was working with Chinese partner Geely to fix the steering box fault.

But it said: “Until such time that a technical solution is developed to rectify the fault, the financial position of the group remains unclear and trading in the company’s shares will remain suspended.”

Four years ago, Manganese Bronze had to recall early production models of the TX4. More than 5,000 taxis were affected in 2008 when 12 under-bonnet fires in early models of the TX4 taxi prompted Manganese Bronze to recall vehicles.

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Source: Chichester Observer

Consultations are taking place across the Chichester district with residents and members of the taxi trade on proposed changes to the way hackney carriages are licensed.

Since 1987, licensed London-style cabs, commonly known as hackney carriages in the district have had to conform to the London conditions of fitness.

There are currently 57 hackney carriages operating in the Chichester District. Chichester District Council is one of only a minority of local authorities which continue to retain this policy.

A Chichester district spokesperson, said: “Government advice, recent legislation and case law required the council to review this policy. “As a result, a decision was taken by the licensing and enforcement committee to move away from the London conditions of fitness.”

The principal objective for the council was the protection of the general public who used licensed hackney carriage and private hire vehicles while still ensuring they are accessible to everyone.

The revised policy outlined a number of new proposals on how the council dealt with licensed drivers, vehicle proprietors and operators.

The new proposals outline that any licensed vehicle must continue to be clearly identifiable as a taxi, with the illuminated sign clearly displayed.

Local residents could provide their views until Tuesday, November 6, and the committee would consider the feedback in November.

Committee vice-chairman Cllr Henry Potter said: “We want to hear from local residents and members of the taxi trade. We will rely on this information to help us make our final decisions.”

The revised document is available to view at www.chichester.gov.uk and comments should be submitted in writing to the Licensing Manager, Health Protection and Environmental Management no later than November 6.

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