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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 11:48 am 
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A bit confusing this, but the most important point is that the plate expired between MoT failures, so he applied for a new plate and was then caught out by the age rule for new plates. I think.

But the age rule isn't mentioned until well into the article, so initially it's not entirely clear what's going on :?


'I've had to refuse disabled customers' - Taxi driver's cab taken off the road in row with council after vehicle fails MOT

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/st ... xi-3146146

Mohammed Khan claims he's spent almost £1,200 on getting the vehicle through the tests

Image
Image: Stoke Sentinel

Cabbie Mohammed Khan has failed in a bid to keep his vehicle on the road following a row with the council over his MOT.

And the 33-year-old, who is director of Dresden-based Premier Private Hire, says he has lost a £12,000 school contract along with a regular customer of two years.

Mohammed's wheelchair accessible Toyota Hiace had failed its MOT three-times with a date for the fourth attempt beyond when its private hire licence had expired.

Now Stoke-on-Trent City Council has stood firm over the dispute as Mohammed claims to have spent almost £1,200 on MOTs and required repairs for the vehicle to pass.

Image
Image: Stoke Sentinel

Mohammed says the vehicle failed its first two MOTs over emissions and the third on brakes. Having paid for the repairs he booked in for a fourth on June 4 - with the private hire licence expiring on May 29.

The dad-of-three says he kept his kept the vehicle off the road until it passed - but when he came to apply for his taxi license plates he was told he would not be able to have them as he let his MOT expire.

Mohammed, from Meir, said: "If you're not allowed to have license plates when your MOT expires then the council website should not have let me book the MOT for June 4 and they should have informed me at the MOT centre.

"I've explained to the council how important the vehicle is to us. I've lost out on a customer of two years because we don't have the vehicle to take her shopping and to her hospital appointments anymore, she would spend £120 with us a week.

"I've also just lost out on a £12,000 school contract where we pick children up from school who require the disabled access vehicle. The council should be supporting taxi drivers to have these disabled access vehicles not taking them off the road.

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Image: Stoke Sentinel

"There have been complaints about taxi drivers refusing wheelchair work, but that isn't the case for us, we have the vehicle but the council say we can't use it.

"It's a very important vehicle for the community because people rely on it and it's an important part of our fleet. That vehicle helps our customers who need it to lead a normal life. We're a small business and refusing these customers is not good for our reputation."

Mohammed estimates that in addition to the £1,188 he's spent on MOTs and repairs he's now facing up the prospect of spending £12,000 on replacing the vehicle. He said: "I've spent all of that money and now I've been told I can't have my license plates."

He added: "On the first two MOTs they said the emissions were a problem, but on the third they failed it on the brakes even though it had only done a further 150 miles. Why didn't they notice a problem with the brakes on the first two MOTs?"

He appealed to the council on July 16. However the decision to refuse the taxi license plates was upheld as his vehicle was more than seven years old.

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Image: Stoke Sentinel

Councillor Randy Conteh, cabinet member for communities and safer city, said: "The safety and security of people who are travelling with taxi and private hire drivers is absolutely paramount.

"Taxis and private hire do high mileage and suffer more wear and tear than the average person’s car, but as a licensing authority, the city council has a duty to ensure that taxis and private hire cars are safe, roadworthy and fit for purpose.

"In this particular case, the car failed its MOT three times, before passing on June 4. However, its private hire licence expired on May 29, and vehicles that are more than seven years old must be renewed before their MOT runs out.

"We do not accept vehicles that are more than seven years old where there has been a break between the expiration of the licence and the renewal of its MOT, and that is clearly spelled out in our policy.

"Just because a car passes its MOT does not mean we have to give it a private hire licence, and public safety is always at the forefront of decisions we make. We expect all taxi and private hire drivers to ensure their vehicles are maintained to a safe and legal standard at all times."


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 11:49 am 
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Quote:
The dad-of-three says he kept his kept the vehicle off the road until it passed - but when he came to apply for his taxi license plates he was told he would not be able to have them as he let his MOT expire.


Let his plate expire, that should read, presumably :?


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 1:03 pm 
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Quote:
Mohammed's wheelchair accessible Toyota Hiace had failed its MOT three-times with a date for the fourth attempt beyond when its private hire licence had expired.

Surely it goes in once and they give you a long list of failures.

Why on earth wouldn't you get them fixed for the second MOT?

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 3:27 pm 
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Location: Stamford Britains prettiest town till SKDC ruined it
I lost my plate on my wav after repairs over ran due to parts "lost in Germany" I was not allowed to re-license it they are very strict it must be through and passed before the due date

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:35 pm 
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Sussex wrote:
Quote:
Mohammed's wheelchair accessible Toyota Hiace had failed its MOT three-times with a date for the fourth attempt beyond when its private hire licence had expired.

Surely it goes in once and they give you a long list of failures.

Why on earth wouldn't you get them fixed for the second MOT?


Well he did get the following fixed, which were fails on the first MoT:

Quote:
• Nearside Rear Stop lamp(s) not working (4.3.1 (a) (ii))
• Nearside Front Suspension arm ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (5.3.4 (b) (ii))
• Offside Rear Brake pipe excessively corroded (1.1.11 (c))


However, as stated in the article, the fourth reason for the initial MoT fail was also the cause of failure on the second attempt:

Quote:
• Exhaust emissions exceed manufacturer's specified limit (8.2.2.2 (a))


Which had then been sorted by the third attempt, but by then these other failure items appeared:

Quote:
• Windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid (3.5 (a))
• Rear Brakes imbalanced across an axle Axle 2 (1.2.1 (b) (i))


He then passed on the next attempt, but by that time the plate had expired etc.

So don't know why it failed on the emissions twice - seems a bit unlucky though, that kind of thing you have to trust to the professionals - it's not like a tyre that's obviously worn.

And if the emissions had been sorted at the first attempt then he wouldn't have subsequently failed on the brake imbalance (and the washer fluid thing) and would have renewed his plate on time etc, so a tad unlucky in my opinion - he was presumably told by a garage that the emissions were OK before it was retested the first time.


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:46 pm 
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edders23 wrote:
I lost my plate on my wav after repairs over ran due to parts "lost in Germany" I was not allowed to re-license it they are very strict it must be through and passed before the due date


And, of course, given the amount of adverse publicity about the Stoke trade then doubt if the council there will be willing to show much in the way of leniency.

Which is maybe why there's lots of comments on the website, and he isn't being given a sympathetic hearing - I was expecting lots of stuff about jobsworth councils and the like, but instead the driver is being hauled over the coals.

As I said above, he does seem a tad unlucky on the emissions etc, but someone commenting on the website has looked his vehicle up on the MoT database and made a bit of a meal of it. For a start, the vehicle has done about 200,000 miles, which obviously isn't the highest mileage vehicle in the trade you're likely to see, but then again from the public's perspective it looks a lot :shock:

And he's still got the following advisories, which are just advisories, obviously, but the commenters are making a bit of a meal of them, particularly the corroded brake pipe stuff:

Quote:
• Nearside Front Direction indicator slightly discoloured (4.4.3 (a))
• Offside Front Direction indicator slightly discoloured (4.4.3 (a))
• Oil leak, but not excessive (8.4.1 (a) (i))
• Nearside Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material front to rear (1.1.11 (c))
• Offside Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material front to rear (1.1.11 (c))


So while that sort of stuff doesn't look good, it hardly seems the deathtrap that some are trying to portray it as.

The vehicle also failed in October last year, though, and this doensn't look particularly good, especially the tyre stuff [-X

Quote:
Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):
• Offside Front Tyre has ply or cords exposed (5.2.3 (d) (ii))
• Nearside Front Tyre has a lump, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure has metal in inner side wall and leaking air (5.2.3 (d) (ii))

Repair immediately (major defects):
• Offside Front Bumper insecure (6.1.4 (a) (i))
• Nearside Front Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush excessively worn (5.3.4 (a) (i))
• Offside Front Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush excessively worn (5.3.4 (a) (i))
• Rear Brakes imbalanced across an axle Axle 2 (1.2.1 (b) (i))

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
• Oil leak, but not excessive (8.4.1 (a) (i))
• reverse lamp inop


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:52 pm 
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Obviously has an ongoing problem with a slight oil leak, though, although still just an advisory.

But the rear brake imbalance was a failure back in October, then presumably repaired, but has reappeared again more recently.

But if the commenters on the website are anything to go by then he's not done himself any favours - all he's done is made things look a lot worse for him and the vehicle than they actually are, so maybe a bit like the chap in Helensburgh and his £55 fare :shock:


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 8:37 pm 
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Location: Stamford Britains prettiest town till SKDC ruined it
sounds like he doesn't service his vehicle between MOT's

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 9:37 pm 
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edders23 wrote:
sounds like he doesn't service his vehicle between MOT's


Dunno, but it was last MoTd in mid-November 2018, and the first of the failures this year was end of April, so only five and a half months between tests.

And it doesn't look like a high mileage car, in the last few years anyway, maybe 10,000/annum maximum, one year only 5,000, so hardly likely to be serviced too regularly.

And the stuff that's coming up looks just like the kind of thing you'd expect in an 11-year-old cab with 200,000 on the clock, and lots of that stuff will be picked up by some mechanics, but maybe not by others.

So I'm not being too judgemental, although the stuff about the tyres last year doesn't look good.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 3:48 pm 
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That £12K worth of school work he gets could be spent on a overhaul of his vehicle like a new engine or have his reconditioned, new brake pipes all round, under sealed, new CV joints and track rod ends. Sounds like he's charging champagne fares and running on a lemonade budget. I've got no time for plebs like this.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 9:24 pm 
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what this shows is that it's about time the taxi/ph trade need a stricter set of rules regarding what we in the bus industry call PMI, preventative maintenance inspections. Regualr safety checks at set intervals.

For many years we've been told that the annual test is NOT an annual safety check to find out what's wrong, go away and fix it and come back next week. It's about public safety. Luckily (maybe) we have the Traffic Commissioner who looks very closely at those whose maintenance doesn't come up to standard. The annual pass rate first time for PSVs is something like 86%, lorries is slightly lower. Taxis aren't included in the DafT figures because different licencing regimes have different standards. It's time the taxi/ph trade had a uniform set of standards across the country.

White vans come bottom of th pass rate at something like 46% pass first time. Worrying.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 10:00 pm 
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roythebus wrote:
what this shows is that it's about time the taxi/ph trade need a stricter set of rules regarding what we in the bus industry call PMI, preventative maintenance inspections. Regualr safety checks at set intervals.

For many years we've been told that the annual test is NOT an annual safety check to find out what's wrong, go away and fix it and come back next week. It's about public safety. Luckily (maybe) we have the Traffic Commissioner who looks very closely at those whose maintenance doesn't come up to standard. The annual pass rate first time for PSVs is something like 86%, lorries is slightly lower. Taxis aren't included in the DafT figures because different licencing regimes have different standards. It's time the taxi/ph trade had a uniform set of standards across the country.

White vans come bottom of th pass rate at something like 46% pass first time. Worrying.



Local Authority licensing regimes have the means at their disposal already,they can call a vehicle in for inspection when ever they want but not more than 3 times in a 12 month period.
A licensee who is found to not be maintaining his vehicle(numerous faults on vehicle at previous test times) should be made to present his vehicle for testing on a 4 monthly cycle.


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 2:39 pm 
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Quote:
A licensee who is found to not be maintaining his vehicle(numerous faults on vehicle at previous test times) should be made to present his vehicle for testing on a 4 monthly cycle.


That would have been a sensible way to revolve the issues of the opening post.

However these issues are seldom sorted via common sense.

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