Worcester taxi investigation after 44% of cabs fail key 'compliance' testsNEARLY 170 Worcester taxi drivers have failed key 'compliance' tests in just one year - sparking a council investigation into the findings.
Your Worcester News can reveal how independent tests on the condition of cabbies operating in the city flagged up problems with 44 per cent - including faulty brake pads, defective lights, expired MOTs and illegal tyres.
Between August last year and July this year 389 taxi drivers were told to report to a testing centre in Blackpole by Worcester City Council for sudden checks.
Of that number 169 failed their inspections - with the worst month back in January when a staggering 66 per cent, 16 out of 24, failed to make the grade.
Cabbies in the city have defended the results by saying standards are far higher than normal cars and that reasons for failing can include marked seats, ripped carpets, dirt, dents or a faulty inside light.
But councillors are now planning to interrogate the data, with some calling it "a serious situation".
The findings were published at the request of politicians after lingering, anecdotal concern around some taxis - both private hire ones and hackney carriages.
Of the 169 failed taxis, which cannot drive again until they pass, 78 per cent were because of defective brake pads or lights.
Councillor Chris Mitchell, a city council cabinet member, said: "Regardless of whether it's a safety issue or not these are professional drivers and 44 per cent are failing the standards.
"I have genuine concerns that there is a culture of drivers not knowing what sort of condition their vehicles should be in, and they should - it's a significant concern."
Councillor Gareth Jones said: "A fault is a fault - these are public service vehicles and whether it's a headlight issue, indicator not working, flat tyre, it's serious.
"They know the standards and should be sticking to them."
The findings led to a debate during a city council licensing and environmental health committee meeting, where the Mayor of Worcester Councillor Roger Knight urged caution.
He insisted he was "not trying to play it down" but said many of the failures would be "a fault-related issue rather than a safety one".
Councillor Paul Denham said: "The travelling public would expect the standards of maintenance to be higher than other cards on the road - a 44 per cent failure rate on the face of it, doesn't seem a particularly safe situation."
Labour's Simon Cronin said the authority "needs to find out what is grounds for concern and what is trivial", with fellow party politician Geoff Williams agreed, saying more interrogation is needed into the failure reasons.
The council has now set up a special panel to investigate it further.
After the meeting Lesley Borthwick, of Worcester Taxi Drivers Association, said: "When the council does spot checks and a vehicle is deemed dangerous it's taken off the road immediately until it's repaired and it's the same with the testing centre - a vehicle wouldn't be let back on the road unless it was safe.
"Standards are a lot higher than normal cars and taxi drivers know they've got to keep up the maintenance to be able to work."
She said another reason for failure could be the 'for hire' sign not being lit.
* A PDF breaking down the results month-by-month can be viewed HERE.
source:
http://www.tewkesburyadmag.co.uk/news/1 ... ce__tests/
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