Taxi Driver Online

Well this is getting interesting. And this is just scratching the surface

Don't think I'd agree with these folks on much, apart from this aspect, but at least they're a lot braver than me

On the other hand, although there is a point of sorts in it all, I don't think going down the 'foreign-sounding names' route is the way to go

Even the point about language barriers and the like is maybe a bit close to the bone in today's climate, although it's certainly worth mentioning as a factor.

But it'll be interesting to see if the media picks this up - although I wouldn't be surprised if they completely miss out the 'foreign-sounding names' dimension

I think the point could have been made in a slightly less direct fashion, eg more of a passing reference to 'increasing language barriers' in the trade, or whatever.

(Usual caveat for readers down south - an operator here is a plateholder or vehicle proprietor.)


PRESS RELEASE – for immediate release 30.11.25

Taxi operators condemn Fife Council’s “punishment exercise” over vehicle test failures

https://www.facebook.com/standrewstaxis ... UTGNvMwZPl

Proprietors of a leading St Andrews taxi firm have accused Fife Council of subjecting drivers to “a punishment exercise” in response to high rates of failure in taxi inspection tests, particularly in north-east Fife.

They argue the Council is doing nothing to support foreign drivers, despite its own data showing operators with foreign-sounding names were responsible for more than 42% of failed taxi tests – over twice the failure rate of native operators.

Operators from across Fife whose taxis had failed their inspection test in the spring were summoned to Fife House to meet members of the Regulation and Licensing Committee and key officers. East Fife (zone E) were singled out, with almost a quarter (45 out of 206) vehicles failing their test.

At the meeting, councillors branded the situation “unacceptable” and imposed new sanctions, including:

• Operators signing a pre-test declaration confirming they had checked every item on the Fleet Services inspection sheet.

• An additional MOT six months after any failed taxi test.

• Automatic referral to a suspension hearing where licences could be removed.

James Glen, Director of St Andrews Taxis, said:

“When the higher-than-usual taxi test fails were first discussed in March, Cllr David MacDiarmid said:

"If it was up to me, I would bring them all in, knock their heads together and knock some sense into them.

"Why have they not got it into their skulls these are the standards we set?"

“It felt like the Committee has acted on his words.

“The Committee did not consult with operators or trade associations on why failures were so high or how to tackle the problem.

“Instead, councillors imposed heavy-handed measures and draconian threats that increase bureaucracy and costs, with no evidence that they will improve outcomes.”

Former councillor and Director of St Andrews Taxis, Linda Holt, added:

“Councillors relied on headline figures and sensational talk of unsafe taxis, but failed to look at what was actually behind the failures. Many were for trivial issues such as missing fire extinguisher stickers. Yet all were treated as equally dangerous.

“They totally failed to drill down into the data. The Committee did not know what proportion of failed operators had only recently acquired a plate, or were persistent offenders.

“They also ignored clear patterns in the data. Publicly available records show taxis registered to operators with foreign-sounding names had a failure rate of 41.2%, compared to 17.8% for native-named operators. In other words, foreign drivers’ vehicles were more than twice as likely to fail.

“Blanket criticism of the whole trade undermines public trust and driver morale. Native-owned taxis—which are the majority—actually achieved an 82.2% pass rate, well above the overall figures the Committee quoted and better than the national average.

“When I raised this, Committee Convenor Cllr Tom Adams shut me down. But unless councillors acknowledge the problem, they cannot address it. Language barriers, difficulty navigating bureaucracy, or unfamiliarity with UK taxi standards may be part of the issue. Targeted solutions like workshops, translated guides, or plainer-English materials could raise pass rates significantly.

“Instead, councillors chose scapegoating over problem-solving.”


Cars plated to drivers with foreign-sounding names

Total Fails: 21

Where operators had more than one plate, we looked at the number of cars failing as a proportion of the total no. of cars submitted by operator: 2/2, 1/2, 3/4, 2/2

Total no. of cars: 51

Failure rate: 41.2%

Chance of failing if a driver has a foreign-sounding name: 1 in 2.5


Cars plated to drivers with native-sounding names

Total fails: 24

Where operators had more than one plate, we looked at the number of cars failing as a proportion of the total no. of cars submitted by operator: 1/5, 1/2, 1/5, 1/3, 5/16, 2/4, 1/2, 1/4, 2/2

No of cars: 135

Failure rate: 17.8%

Chance of failing if a driver has a native-sounding name: 1 in 6

The foreign-sounding names issue is a stupid way for the trade to proceed.


Never heard anyone moan about that.


100% nail on the head.

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IDFIMH

Maybe just as bad are the opposing words, which I didn't even notice last week - 'native-sounding names'

I mean, the label 'nativism' is almost the same as xenophobia and racism, at least as far as 'woke' or 'progressive' thinking is concerned


Meant to say (and for what it's worth), that the numbers above suggesting that 73% of cars (135 of 186) are still owned by, er, natives doesn't reflect the true position on the ranks in the St Andrews area.

Thing is, the St Andrews trade dominates the zone, but not elsewhere in the East zone, so the 73% 'native' figure for the whole zone doesn't really reflect the position in St Andrews per se.

Likewise, the 'native' figure will include quite a few cars involved mainly in airport transfers, golf stuff and the school and social work sort of stuff, so again that doesn't really reflect the composition of the drivers on the *ranks* in St Andrews.

Similarly, even drilling down to the rank level, the average 'native' driver isn't on the ranks so much, because they tend to be working for the offices and/or don't really work the ranks much, or if they're on the ranks at all, they tend not to be there so long as the independent and small firms with a mobile number, say.

So although the crude stats above suggest that if you went to a rank in St Andrews then the car in pole would only 27% of the time driven by a driver with a 'foreign' name, that doesn't really reflect the actual position.

In reality, I'd guess that rather than 27% of the time, I'd say that drivers with foreign names are in pole maybe 90% of the time

(And as well as referring specifically to the ranks, I'm also referring specifically to *pole* position, because the 'native' drivers are more likely to be called off for a run before they get into pole...).

Or, put it another way, I'm one of the very few native drivers who are independent/small firm and thus rely mainly on the ranks. So it's very common for me to be the only 'gammon' on the ranks, particularly the station rank, and our main night rank, and the main town centre day rank - by contrast, the gammons driving the office cars tend to rank round at the bus station, which I generally avoid, thus I'm often the only 'native' driver on the ranks.

And, in particular, to the extent that 'vulnerable' passengers are likely to get into a rank car (tourists, drunks, and drunken young women in particular), then it's more than likely that this will be a non-native driver, and certainly not reflected in the stats for the non-native cars above

Well the East zone did badly in the Fife spotchecks conducted in November - 72 cars checked across all the Fife zones.

So seven out of 18 cars checked had plates removed in the East zone

But which certainly gives credence to the 'foreign-sounding' names narrative as regards test failures and the like.

But I wonder whose vehicle was arguably the worst in terms of failure items, and who are the only ones with 'native-sounding' names

(The other one with native-sounding names in the East zone list is actually a car from another zone. So it's a bit misleading to show it under the East zone checks, although if you read the small print it does say it's a Leven plate )

This is the nitty gritty here (agenda papers for next week's committee meeting) and it starts at page 22 with the East zone results, and the preamble/summary info is on a couple of pages before that:

https://www.fife.gov.uk/_services/share ... emId=84465

So any comments about how all this is presented? I mean, is it normal to have names and numbers of spotcheck failures in the public domain like this?

And, for example, of the four plate removals in the West zone, the items are:

- four engine management lights on

- one roof light not illuminating

- one missing a tyre inflation kit


Is it normal to remove plates for roadside checks for stuff like that?

I think the names are ok as they should also appear on the taxi register, and from memory on the taxi door. Or has that changed?

Those checks were quite thorough, as some of the faults require the car to be put on a ramp.

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IDFIMH

Sussex, pretty sure the checks were just done on the streets. They certainly only did mine at the roadside (on the rank specifically), but luckily I passed (And ditto the others I was aware of, and there were photos from the other zones on a Fife-based Facebook pages which deals with motoring and traffic stuff more generally).

But apart from the ball joint and track rod end on the one vehicle, all of the other failure items are roadside checks stuff.

And there were *four* council employees checking the car at the same time

So the LO in the car checking the badges, meter seal and signage etc (the fire extinguisher location sticker, most obviously ), and *three* others checking the mechanicals, fire extinguisher, rooflight etc.

So, for example, one of them was in the car turning the steering wheel back and forth, while there was one at each wheel with torches etc.

Which was presumably how they found the defective ball joint and track rod end...

(Also two traffic police stopping the cars etc, one of whom checked my DVLA licence. So that was *six* people altogether on the one car, basically...)

Anyway, our names were taken off the doors more than 20 years ago now. (Although, for whatever reasons, our names are still on the badges, so I'd guess the names weren't taken off the doors for security reasons...in fact, there may be a hint in the list of names on the agenda documents failure list, or at least in the column heading for the list of names )

And that was at the same time we got the new-style plates with more detail (until then there was no expiry date etc), and also the new window plates, which we didn't have before that...). So in terms of identifying the car etc, it was arguably just a different approach rather than making the car less identifiable by removing the names from the doors

And my point about what happens elsewhere wasn't so much about the legality of putting the names in the public domain like this, but how it compares with practice in other authorities

Can't say I've ever seen anything similar while down the rabbit hole of council minutes and the like. (Although I've never specifically went looking for how the results of spotchecks are presented in council minutes and similar reports and documentation...)

Also wondering whether it was usual to remove the plate at the roadside for an engine management light etc, and particularly for a roof light not illuminating, or whatever

Down here, personal information is typically excluded from council minutes when it pertains to licensing matters.

Clearly ones human rights aren't a priority in Scottish councils.

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IDFIMH