Taxi Driver Online

Rogue taxi drivers targeted in council blitz


BALDING tyres, broken brakes and dodgy mechanics – these are the cowboy cabbies putting lives at risk.

Now Tyneside council officers have targeted rogue taxi drivers who flout the law during a roadside blitz.

A two-day operation saw licensing chiefs scour the city for death-trap motors. And after inspecting nearly 150 vehicles, they found defects in around one in every 10 vehicles.

Now dodgy drivers who failed the checks have had their licences suspended.

Newcastle City Council’s licensing team manager, Jonathan Bryce, said: “It is vitally important that the public have total confidence when they get into a licensed taxi or private hire vehicle – especially so in the run up to the Christmas when the city centre becomes very busy.”

A joint crackdown on rogue drivers was launched by the British Transport Police, Northumbria Police’s traffic unit and Newcastle City Council.

In total they pulled over 146 vehicles to carry out inspections. Of those, 14 had major faults, such as defective tyres, door fittings, headlamps and other serious mechanical faults.

In all, 24 cabbies were issued with notices demanding that minor defects to be fixed within five days. An increasing stream of taxi drivers licensed by other authorities are pouring into the city centre targeting late-night boozers.

Tyneside licensing chiefs are powerless to carry out spot checks on those from outside Newcastle – leaving passengers vulnerable. During the council’s latest blitz, 10 drivers received fixed penalty notices from the police for various traffic breaches. Among those were four licensed in Newcastle, two private hire from Northumberland and three private hire from North Tyneside. All were immediately suspended for major vehicle defects.

Mr Bryce added: “Although the city council has the power to inspect vehicles that are licensed by Newcastle, officers are not authorised to inspect taxis or private hire vehicles that are licensed outside of the city and come into work as part of Christmas trade. We are reliant upon the co-operation of the police to stop and examine such vehicles.”

Around 10 operations have taken place this year council licensing officers take to the streets every weekend to carry out checks.

PC Paul Gills, of Northumbria Police’s Road Safety Unit, said: “Although the vast majority of drivers are law-abiding, these results show there are unfortunately still drivers who are not taking enough care to make sure their vehicles are up to standard. In some cases it could be putting people in danger.”

Coun Henri Murison, Cabinet Member for Quality of Life, said: “The safety of the public is of paramount importance. These joint operations with the police and the subsequent suspensions should leave the small minority of irresponsible taxi drivers in no doubt that we will not tolerate defective cabs on the streets of Newcastle.

Read More http://www.chroniclelive.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

Just when you think these titles couldn't get any more ludicrous and pompous, an even worse example comes along.



But at least you can rely on the same old platitudes.

The title....council member with the most enormous member was obviously reserved for me

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