Taxi Driver Online

Taxis ordered off road

Spot checks on some of the borough’s taxis resulted in almost all of those tested being taken off the road.

The safety inspections were carried out by licensing officers from Tameside Council along with police, the Vehicle Operators and Services Agency and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Of the 21 private hire vehicles assessed, only four passed the test and the rest were taken into a garage for further inspection.

Ten lost their licence plates – meaning they can no longer be used as taxis – and seven were in such a poor state of repair that they were taken off the road completely. Problems included faulty brakes, tyres and steering.

Similar spot checks were carried out last month resulting in eight hackney carriages and two private hire cars losing their licence plates due to defects such as corrosion, faulty brakes and suspension, excessive exhaust smoke and steering box failure.

Those targeted in the crackdown were older and potentially rundown cars.

Environment chief, Cllr Catherine Piddington said: "This type of operation is vital to ensure our licensed vehicles are kept to the required standards and are safe for passengers to be transported in. It highlights the importance of maintaining vehicles between tests – if vehicle owners improved in this area we might not see so many failures. It also provides a reminder for taxi and private hire cab owners that we will act on, deal with and not tolerate poorly maintained vehicles. This result was not representative of the whole fleet however. We particularly targeted vehicles which may have been reported to us for being in bad repair or which are older and more likely to develop faults between tests."

The council only issues private hire and hackney carriage licences to vehicles that have passed a test, described as being more rigorous than an MOT.

It is carried out annually or every six months for cars over three years old but despite regular testing the council says vehicles are often found to have faults.

source: http://menmedia.co.uk/

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

I think we'll see more and more of this soon as drivers find it difficult to make ends meet and the family comes before the vehicle, which is kind of silly, because without the vehicle the family will go without considerably more so

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!