Kind of reminds me of the high dudgeon in my manor
Certainly looks bad, but the numbers tested are quite small, so to that extent maybe more susceptible to wild swings in a statistical sense. And the disparity between HCs and PHVs looks odd, too
More than a third of South Ayrshire taxis fail inspections during three month spell branded 'a disgrace'https://uk.news.yahoo.com/more-third-so ... 53910.htmlA massive rise in the number of South Ayrshire taxis failing inspections has been branded a ‘disgrace’.A report revealed that more than a third of taxis in the region failed inspections between April and June – more than four times the number of failures in the same period last year.
Civic Licensing Officer Donna Scobie told South Ayrshire Council’s Regulatory Panel: “Unfortunately, there has been an increase from eight per cent to 36 percent of taxi failures for that quarter.
Of the 22 vehicles tested, eight failed, compared to just two failures out of 27 tested between April and June 2024.
Private Hire vehicles also saw a significant jump in failures, from three per cent to 10 per cent. Between April and June this year, 41 private hire vehicles were tested, with four failures, compared to one failure out of 35 in the same period last year.
Ms Scobie said: “As you can see from these factors, there has been a notable increase in failures for both taxi and private higher cars, which is disappointing.”
Labour Councillor Ian Cavana stated: “I hate to say this word, but that is a disgrace.
“From eight per cent last year to 36 per cent is unacceptable for a start.
“I’ve said many times here, that my vehicle’s due to be tested next week, so I put it in before that. And that isn’t my livelihood.”
He asked whether any of the vehicles that failed were used to transport school children.
Ms Scobie responded that she did not have the information to hand, but stressed that ‘the safety of all passengers was a priority’.
Cllr Cavana said: “As I said before, this has more than quadrupled for taxis.
“I don’t know what we do with this, but you need to do something for the safety of the people of South Ayrshire.”
Councillor Alec Clark backed Cllr Cavana.
He said: “These are safety issues for vehicles that are carrying the public and that is not acceptable.
“The public are entitled to feel safe when they enter a vehicle. And I think it’s something that we have to take on board going forward.”
He suggested a briefing or discussion with taxi associations to stress the seriousness of the situation.
He added: “We have to inform drivers that this is not acceptable and we’ll deal very seriously with this in the near future.”
Cllr Cavana asked whether there was a pattern or reason for the massive leap.
He said wanted to “see if there’s any correlation with the fails, if something has happened or the drivers have been unfortunate or have taken their eye off the ball.”
He asked Ms Scobie: “I don’t know whether you can have the time to look into all these fails and see if we can get some details behind it and work out some sort of pattern.
“I mean, when you’re approaching 36 per cent you are on your way to half your vehicle fleet failing, which is quite a significant leap.”
During a taxi hearing later on, one driver’s representative referred to the hike in failures, suggesting that some defects were recorded as major where he viewed them as minor.
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