Taxi Driver Online

Leicester Mercury

February 6, 2007 Tuesday

HEADLINE: Talks aim to improve taxi checks

Council bosses have held talks with taxi unions after hundreds of drivers fled on-the-spot vehicle safety tests.

Officers from Leicester City Council's licensing department have discussed how to make drivers stay for the spot checks with the Leicestershire branch of the RMT union, which represents Hackney cab drivers.

Hundreds of drivers fled unannounced check-ups on two occasions in the past five months. The inspections target both the 318 hackney carriages and the 1,000 private hire vehicles licensed in Leicester.

In December, 28 taxis were inspected and three ordered off the road, but council bosses said many drivers ran from the tests. In October, nine cabs were ordered off the road out of 19 tested at Leicester station.

The inspection left hundreds of people stranded. If a check is failed, the taxi is ordered off the road with a prohibition notice. Drivers said they left because the council was too picky about finding faults.

Leicester City Council licensing boss Mike Broster would not say what plans there were to make drivers stay for checks because he feared drivers would work out ways around them.

He said: "The tests see a reasonably high failure rate. It doesn't send a good message. "One of the suggestions by the RMT was a pre-arranged date for drivers to submit to checks.

"We're not keen on that one. Drivers can get problems with their vehicles fixed just before the tests are carried out. "The idea behind the on-the-spot checks is to make more drivers keep their vehicle in the right condition all the time."

Kuljit Singh, secretary of the Leicestershire branch of the RMT, said: "Both sides made suggestions and the officers and senior councillors should get back to us in a couple of weeks."
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