Taxi Driver Online

Taxi drivers vent anger at test system


ANGRY bosses of local taxi firms have hit out at Falkirk Council's system of servicing cabs.


Every six months, the 500 vehicles in the area must undergo thorough checks to keep their licence.

If they fail, however, some are having to wait for two weeks to get another appointment, leaving them off the road until they pass.

James Buchanan, owner of Express Taxis, said: "This is an ongoing dispute which affects all drivers and one which I have been very concerned about for a while. It has been raised at the taxi forum by a
number of people.

"It's very easy to fail on a minor issue, such as a tiny leak, which means you are off the road until your resit.

"And I don't think waiting two weeks is acceptable for the driver to wait and be unemployed.

"The council have the right to do the service, so you can't go anywhere else which gives them a monopoly on it."

Another local taxi company owner, who did not wish to be named, voiced similar concerns.

He said: "The current system is ludicrous. I had a car which failed on something small. I could only get an appointment the next week, which meant I would miss a weekend's work, but luckily I managed to get a cancellation.

''Other places have far better systems in place and I think they should be looked at."

Alex Bruce, owner of Bruce Taxis, added: "There have been concerns raised at the taxi forums, but at the moment I think we have to give the new system a chance and see how it goes from there."

Charlie Devine, waste manager at Falkirk Council, said: "The testing station is now capable of undertaking in excess of 2000 tests per year with taxi testing taking up around 1200 slots.

"The current system is much more efficient but does rely on taxis turning up. At present 20 per cent fail to turn up for their appointment or cancel at short notice

"If a car fails the test the owner will be given another date which can be up to 14 days later. However, the station operates a cancellation system that normally allows re-tests to take place within three to four days.

"We have serious concerns about the number of re-tests and the number of vehicles failing to turn up and we are monitoring these.''

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
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It looks like there may be another side to this story, from the reported comments of the council chap.

However, our council issue a notice to get the work done and re-present within a time period for a further council inspection. As engineers reports and MOTs are carried out by our own mechanics, the car can continue working during that period.

They trust us not to abuse the system. It seems to work quite well!

Same here. We get 14 days to get the work done and re-present. The only way you are off the road is if it fails on a major safety issue.

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