Taxi Driver Online

Leicester Mercury

October 30, 2007 Tuesday

Dangerous cabs set to lose their licences

Four taxi drivers face losing their cab licences today after a council crackdown found mechanical faults on their vehicles.

Almost 100 taxis were inspected in two spot-checks by the city council earlier this month.

Twelve cars were taken off the road afterwards due to faults including braking, steering and suspension problems.

The council is now asking for four of those vehicle licences to be revoked, as the cars are more than eight years old.

However, taxi bosses said that although they backed the checks, it is unfair to take drivers' livelihoods away.

Sital Singh Gill, of the Association of Leicestershire Hackney Carriage Drivers, said: "We fully support the city council in these check-ups.

"People do their best to look after their cabs and we want to provide the best service to the Leicester public. Safety is of paramount importance to us.

"We're not happy if drivers have their livelihoods taken away, though.

"If the cab is faulty it could happen to anyone at any time. We're not in favour of any drivers losing their livelihood.

"We're going to see the council as soon as possible on this issue. We are very concerned that it is not fair."

The four drivers who face losing their vehicle licenses have not been named.

A council spokesman said: "We regularly run spot-checks on taxis to check their condition.

"These involve mechanical examinations and, where vehicles fail these exams, we have to consider whether to revoke the licence to allow it to be used as a taxi.

"We will take into account factors like the number of failures and the age of the vehicle.

"We work with the Ministry of Transport to carry out these spot-checks. We instruct taxis to attend the Ministry of Transport testing centre, where an MOT test is carried out.

"We are concerned with faults such as those relating to braking, steering or suspension, which impact upon the safety of the vehicle and its passengers. If they fail the test, then we can suspend the vehicle from use until repair work is carried out and a retest is passed."

He added that if a vehicle has failed two or more tests in 12 months, or is over eight years old, the council could look to revoke the licence permanently.

"We are therefore applying to revoke the licences of four taxis," the spokesman said.

Last year some cab drivers fled on-the-spot checks rather than risk being taken off the road.

Tests are carried out by the city council, police and the vehicle inspectorate.

Last year, 79 taxis were inspected and 31 were so dangerous they were taken off the road.

A new London-style Hackney cab costs about £30,000, and can only be bought at a handful of suppliers in the UK.
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