Taxi Driver Online

August 2, 2006 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Limos taken off the road

BYLINE: Carl Eve

DATELINE: Echo

Parents are being warned by police to double-check the limo companies who take their children to prom nights after six vehicles were taken off the road following checks.

Essex Police, working alongside Essex County Council's licence enforcement officer, checked limousines during the school prom season to ensure the vehicles were roadworthy and operated by licensed drivers.

Unlike taxi drivers, who must be vetted, anyone including a registered sex offender can become a limo driver.

During the operations in Thurrock, Rayleigh, Southend and Chelmsford, 70 limousine operators and drivers were found to be breaking the law.

Six vehicles were seized by police who found drivers uninsured to drive such a vehicle or had the wrong licence.

Road policing officer PC Jason Dearsley said: "People, many of them youngsters going on a night out, have been hiring these vehicles assuming that they are licensed to carry passengers, they are correctly insured and that the driver has the correct licence."
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I'm not sure how many limos operate in that manor, but FFS that a lot of illegal motors.

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IDFIMH