Taxi Driver Online

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MINICAB MPVS MAY BE FORCED OFF THE ROAD

STUART ABEL

12:00 - 01 July 2004

Plymouth City Council is reviewing the use of multi-passenger vehicles (MPVs) as minicabs to carry seven passengers after some drivers said they were dangerous. One taxi company has claimed rear passengers in the back row of a Ford Galaxy or Peugeot 807 would be unable to get out in an emergency.

The vehicles have seven passenger seats but the rear seats do not have their own doors - occupants have to collapse a seat in front to reach the two rear sliding doors. Some drivers want to allow only six passengers in MPVs to give everyone an escape route.

The council, which licences all private hire vehicles, is now reviewing specifications, including seating.

Caradon District Council already has a policy whereby all passengers in an MPV must have access to a door without the need to climb over or lower the back of any seat. Seats should not be at right angles to the direction of travel, as this would make an approved seat belt mechanism ineffectual.

But minicab bosses who use MPVs insist they are safe, and increasingly popular. There are fewer than 10 in Plymouth at present.

Richard Burt, a partner in Central Taxis, said companies should take one seat out of the middle row so passengers could climb forward and reach the doors without obstacle.

He said: "You have to fold the seats in front of you forward to get out of the back. In the event of an impact or a fire, the rear passengers would have to climb over the middle seats. How is someone such as an 80-year-old woman going to do that?"

But AA Taxis manager Andrew Harris, who operates two MPVs, said the claims were 'absolute rubbish'.

He added: "We use Peugeot 807s which have a button to automatically fold down the middle seats from the rear. They are some of the safest cars on the road. They have two straps on the seatbelt, for example, across the lap and across the chest."

Mr Harris said the cars were busy almost all the time and he was thinking of buying several more.

A council spokeswoman said: "We are in the latter phase of consultation with the taxi trade and other interested groups on Vehicle Specifications and Vehicle Conditions policies and regulations. The current position is that we do allow MPVs to carry up to seven passengers if the vehicle is designed to hold that number. We're aware of concerns about passengers in an emergency and this is being considered as part of the review."

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we got several on our fleet, some of the lads have bought brand new onlys in the last few months. but i think most of ours are only licenced to carry 5.
dunno why our local rag have started calling us minicabs i thought that was just a london thing, maybe a hack driver wasnt happy about PH being called taxis in other articles and moaned!!

I still can't work out why councils are so fussed about the 'not having to climb over someone else, to get out in an emergency' policy.

Don't all saloon cars have three seats at the back? Then how does the piggy in the middle get out?

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IDFIMH

Don't MPv's have 2 rows of seats in the rear? A mate of mine has a Kia Sedona MPV that has a row of 3 and a row of 2 in the rear. The row of 3 seats folds down so the passengers in the rear can get out.

Yes Nigel, there are a number of different combinations available. But surely the manufactures have a duty to produce safe cars, and if they aren't safe, then what are they doing on the road in the first place?

I suspect they are safe, but it appears that £15/20/25,000 LOs are more knowledgeable about cars, then those paid millions to design the things.

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IDFIMH

sad to think that issues like this are still around today

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