Taxi Driver Online

Where to start with this?

Thought it looks like a fairly bog standard 'clampdown' article, but read closely and it's all over the place. One minute it's making the trade look quite good, then they're a dangerous menace, and back again. And some of the fine detail doesn't add up. Literally

And the headline is wrong for a kick off. 14 cars were checked. Not 'all' of them


Scarborough borough's taxis and private hire vehicles all inspected in joint operation

https://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/ne ... on-3930156

A joint operation to inspect taxi and private hire vehicles to ensure the safety of the travelling public has taken place in Scarborough.

Scarborough Borough Council’s licensing team joined forces with North Yorkshire Police and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to undertake the inspection of 14 taxi and private hire vehicles.

The vehicle inspectors primarily looked for defects such as steering systems, brakes, faulty headlights, problems with indicators, illegal tyres and worn handbrakes.

The licensing team also checked that licensed drivers were fully compliant with the council’s taxi and private hire policy, and government legislation.

Two thirds of the vehicles inspected were either given a clean bill of health or a simple advisory warning.

Six vehicles were found to have no discernible defects.

Three vehicles received a delayed prohibition notice, which is a warning about issues that could cause the vehicle to fail an MoT test, and one received a fixed penalty notice for a headlamp offence.

A few of the advisory warnings given related to: brake pads being worn, engine management light, oil light warning, leaking shock absorber, vehicle lights and a ball joint.

A number of drivers were found to be committing offences either for failing to wear their badge or failing to display their photographic ID.

Badges must be worn and on display so that they are clearly visible to anyone wishing to see them.

Some warnings were issued for dirty cars and drivers were reminded that it is a prosecutable offence to permit a private hire vehicle to pull onto a hackney carriage rank.

The failure to operate a hackney carriage meter was an offence identified on a number of occasions and one driver was dealt with for slightly exceeding a 30 mph speed limit.

The inspection results compare favourably with previous operations.

However, the fact that some vehicles were deficient and some drivers committing offences remains a concern and the council is likely to consider prosecution in some cases.

Cllr Michelle Donohue Moncrieff, Scarborough Borough Council cabinet member for environment and sustainability, said: “These inspections are a very important part of our commitment to the safety of the travelling public so it is positive news that the majority of vehicles inspected were fine or received simple advisories.

“Licensed drivers must adhere to the law with regard to vehicle maintenance, tax and insurance to ensure the safety of all road users.

“We will organise more snap inspections in the near future and will take firm action where vehicles are found not to be fully roadworthy.

"The same will apply to drivers found to be non-compliant, particularly where they fail to display the mandatory photographic ID notices or fail to wear ID badges.”

Traffic Constable Mark Patterson, North Yorkshire Police, said it was good to see only a small number of vehicles had safety issues.

"At the same time, the inspection acted as a reminder to those in the taxi and private hire trade that they should not become complacent with vehicle safety.

"They should ensure that regular safety checks are carried out and any defects remedied straight away.”

Gave up trying to reconcile these numbers. But two thirds of 14 isn't an exact number, so the first paragraph above isn't logical anyway.

But there seem to be these categories:

• Six had no discernible defects, or described in the first paragraph as a 'clean bill of health'.

• Three received a delayed prohibition notice.

• One received an FPN.

• Some were given advisory warnings. Assuming there's no overlap in the above, there's ten cars in the above three categories, so four must have received the advisories


Eh? Even assuming eight (say) out of the 14 cars stopped were HCs, that means a number of them were stopped with POB and the meter wasn't activated?

Do they use the meter much in Scarborough?

I'm guessing the paragraph isn't wholly accurate in its portrayal of what happened


How did they deal with him for slightly exceeding the 30 limit? String him up from a lamppost?


Must have been some litany of crime last time round


Prosecution for what, precisely?

Surely any prosecutions for this kind of thing would have been dealt with police, LOs and the DVSA on the night?


So they have 'photographic ID notices' and 'ID badges'?

What's that all about? Does that mean the driver's photo is displayed on the windscreen or dash in addition to an ID badge, or what?


Of course, if you actually wear a badge then it's rarely 'clearly visible' to anyone, particularly for drivers doing night work.

How would a late night drunk go about inspecting this 'clearly visible badge', for example? Don't like the sound of that at all


Ah, so they're not so bad after all

Of course, no immediate suspensions by the looks of it, and a lot of the stuff is pretty minor, made to sound pretty major.

Except, of course, for all these HCDs driving around without the meter activated. Maybe that's what all the intended prosecutions are about

Anyway, that's enough of this particular rabbit hole...

In many parts of the country including ours the customers usually ask for and obtain a fixed price before getting in especially if out to the villages. Even if you explain that the meter is only on to make sure you have quoted cheaper than meter the customers often demand that the meter is switched off

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Indeed, Edders, but I think the rule is that the meter has to be engaged regardless?

Of course, no doubt quite common for that rule to be infringed.

But, equally, there are two reasons why the meter might not be activated, one pro-consumer, one anti-consumer, which I suppose is why the rule says it must be engaged even if a discount is offered.

My below-meter runs tend to be one-off jobs from the rank, and I generally put the meter on anyway, because they might change their mind about the destination, or the destination turns out to be a couple of miles past where they said, or at the other end they say we agreed £x when we actually agreed £y, etc, etc.

Were they only out for half an hour then?

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IDFIMH

you know these LO's they don't like working unsociable hours !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector