Panel van taxi owners given six months grace to upgrade
October 9, 2009
By Roy Cokayne
Taxi operators with panel vans illegally converted into taxis have been given six months to modify and upgrade their vehicles before facing the full wrath of law enforcement.
The national transport department identified 1 070 panel vans that have been illegally converted into taxis after reports questioning the safety of these vehicles.
Transport Department spokesperson Sam Monareng said this week that the surrender of these vehicles by taxi operators was at this point not part of the solution, although many taxi operators who were willing to correct the situation had contacted the department about the illegal conversions.
"Operators have a six months grace request period during which the process has to be finalised. Thereafter, intense law enforcement programmes will be rolled out in all nine provinces and the details of operators who did not comply will be made available to law enforcement," he said.
"Nobody will be forced to surrender the vehicles just yet. The department has assessed the situation and established three task teams to deal with this situation."
Monareng said a data team was involved with a data filtration process that looked at all panel van conversions from September 2006 and the existing operating licences linked to these vehicles, which were then compared with the data of registered manufacturers or importers and body builders to establish the number of vehicles converted.
However, he stressed all conversions for other purposes, such as emergency services and goods carrying vehicles, were excluded and the process started with establishing the current use of the vehicle and then excluding those not affected.
The expected outcome from this team was a manual stipulating the necessary modifications required to conversions to ensure compliance with the taxi programme. Converted panel vans would undergo testing and the results would indicate the type of modifications required, he said.
