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Milton Keynes to close testing station to save £100,000
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Author:  Sussex [ Mon Oct 19, 2020 8:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Milton Keynes to close testing station to save £100,000
Council set to close its taxi testing base in Milton Keynes to save £110,000

Twice yearly council-run mechanical checks on taxis are set to be axed by Milton Keynes Council in a bid to save money.

Since March taxis and private hire cabs have been allowed by the Government to stay on the road as long as they have an MOT certificate and the council is now set to make this a permanent policy.

A meeting next week is set to hear that a review of the taxi licensing service has concluded that the council’s vehicle testing service at Synergy Park, Bleak Hall, is losing the council £110,000.

It employs one full time, and one part time, specialist vehicle examiners.

“Vehicle testing could be successfully provided, without compromising public safety, by local private firms,” says Jason Agar, the council’s taxi licensing lead, in a report to next Wednesday’s (Oct 28) meeting of the regulatory committee.

The system of twice yearly checks in a purpose-built council workshop on top of having an MOT is set to be replaced by council officer checks once the vehicle has a certificate, and then if concerns are raised.

The council says the decision to outsource MOT and licence checking will provide a boost to local garages and save cab licence holders money at a time when the trade is struggling to attract passengers. Each council test costs £61 and the MOT is priced at £54.85.

It will need to be confirmed by the cabinet, and a date for a final decision has been placed in the council’s forward plan to be made on December 15.

Next Wednesday’s committee meeting will also be told that the council decided to lift a six year vehicle age limit for new licenses in June. It means that vehicles can be re-licensed if they are up to 10 years old.

A private hire operator had claimed that his company found it difficult to fund/source vehicles for school transport that were less than six years old.

The committee has been told that a cabinet member made the decision following discussions with the chair and vice chairs of the council’s licensing committee.
Author:  StuartW [ Mon Oct 19, 2020 9:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Milton Keynes to close taxi testing station to save £100
Interesting, particularly if they're increasing the age rule at the same time.

But maybe over the top to have two tests as well as an MoT in the first place.

An annual council test and interim MoT would have been fine.

But it's interesting that they're closing the Synergy Park testing station to take advantage of synergies in the commercial garage trade :lol:

(For anyone who doesn't know the word, synergy in business basically means bigger is more efficient - economies of scale and all that. Have to tell everyone that so they can get my brilliant joke :lol: :oops: )
Author:  skippy41 [ Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Milton Keynes to close taxi testing station to save £100
How many doggy MOTs will there be now
Author:  edders23 [ Tue Oct 20, 2020 6:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Milton Keynes to close taxi testing station to save £100
skippy41 wrote:
How many doggy MOTs will there be now



didn't know you had to have an MOT for a dog :shock: you learn something new every day!

Seriously though our taxi tests have always been done at MOT testing garages who are assessed and monitored by the DVLA. So why would Taxi compliance tests be dodgy if they are from an approved MOT testing station :?:
Author:  grandad [ Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Milton Keynes to close taxi testing station to save £100
edders23 wrote:
skippy41 wrote:
How many doggy MOTs will there be now





Seriously though our taxi tests have always been done at MOT testing garages who are assessed and monitored by the DVLA. So why would Taxi compliance tests be dodgy if they are from an approved MOT testing station :?:

We have a choice of 3 MOT testing stations in the town who have been approved to carry out our Council inspections.
Author:  Karga [ Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Milton Keynes to close taxi testing station to save £100
edders23 wrote:
Seriously though our taxi tests have always been done at MOT testing garages who are assessed and monitored by the DVLA. So why would Taxi compliance tests be dodgy if they are from an approved MOT testing station :?:


I suspect that we all know an MOT place or two that'll pass anything as long as VOSA aren't in that day.
Author:  Sussex [ Thu Oct 29, 2020 9:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Milton Keynes to close testing station to save £100,000
Closure of Milton Keynes taxi testing station approved amid safety rumpus

The closure of a council-run taxi testing station in Milton Keynes has been approved by councillors after a rumpus over safety concerns.

Taxi and private hire cab drivers had been obliged pay for two checks every year on the ramps at the Milton Keynes Council vehicle testing service at Synergy Park, Bleak Hall, on top of their annual MOT.

Members of the regulatory committee were told that the service has been suspended since the start of the national coronavirus lockdown in March.

A review by officers has concluded that the council can save £110,000 by closing the testing station. They would then rely on private approved garages to give MOT checks.

Specialist council checkers would then decide of the vehicles could jump the higher bar and be given their taxi licences.

Cllr Amanda Marlow (Cons, Loughton & Shenley) was concerned that the follow up checks would not be good enough.

“I’m just a bit concerned that the checks that you are going top be doing are never going to be on a ramp,” she said.

“Somebody’s going to go out there and do an on the ground check and issue a licence.”

The committee heard that the council checks are for items like meters, door signs and higher standards for bodywork.

Cllr Mick Legg (Lab, Bletchley West), who was chairing the committee, said; “The days of substandard garages issuing MOT certificates are long gone I think.”

Jason Agar, the council’s taxi licensing manager said: “We’re confident that we can stay on top of vehicle checks and make sure that these vehicles are compliant,” he said.

The move will also save drivers £122 because they won’t have to pay for the testing station checks, and it could attract more drivers in to the city to use MOT garages, the council believes.

Cllr George Bowyer (Cons, Newport North & Hanslope) said the report was “missing an awful lot of information.

“It seems to me that it’s been written to justify the outcome that they want.”

He queried why a centre carrying out 2,000 tests every year at the rate of seven or eight a day could not be turned into a viable asset.

“I’m slightly worried we are putting money before safety,” he said.

Mr Agar said the testing station, which has two ramps, made £120,000 each year but was costing more than £220,000 to run.

The council intends to sell off the two ramps, one of which was bought for £32,000 in 2019.

The testing station employs one full time, and one part time, specialist vehicle examiners.

The council’s cabinet will now be asked to confirm the regulatory committee’s decision.
Author:  roythebus [ Sat Oct 31, 2020 12:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Milton Keynes to close testing station to save £100,000
"A private hire operator had claimed that his company found it difficult to fund/source vehicles for school transport that were less than six years old."

If that is so then I suggest that operator is running on a shoestring and is not charging enough for his services. I still don't get why they do jobs just for cash turnover. Your pricing should include depreciation over the years and an amount of "profit" to allow you to get a new car every so often.

Shepway used to operate 2 tests at their nominated garage every year and that was included in the licence fee. The problem with an annual test is that many people treat that as an annual safety check and can't be bothered to check anything during the year unless it breaks.
Author:  edders23 [ Sat Oct 31, 2020 1:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Milton Keynes to close testing station to save £100,000
Quote:
If that is so then I suggest that operator is running on a shoestring and is not charging enough for his services. I still don't get why they do jobs just for cash turnover.


because cheapest always wins and most of them wouldn't have a clue how to work it out properly!
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