Coventry taxis are RANK
A STAGGERING 80 per cent of taxis checked by police in Coventry had to be taken off the road with serious defects during a night-time operation.
Unsafe brakes, defective suspension, broken lights and even overloaded cars were among the faults discovered by officers in the city on Friday night.
During the four-hour operation a total of 21 Hackney Carriages and private hire taxis were stopped in the city by officers on motorbikes and led to an examination site in Foleshill Road.
Once there, the vehicles were examined by police and representative from other organisations, including taxi licensing and the DVLA.
Of the 21 taxis stopped, 17 were declared unfit to be on the road and were stopped from being used as taxis immediately.
Among the defects were illegal tyres, defective suspension, steering and brakes.
Others included meters not giving an accurate time, which can lead to passengers being over-charged.
Pc Dean Wainwright, of Stoney Stanton Road police station, led the operation.
He said: “Friday night’s operation – particularly with such bad weather at the moment – is very worrying as most of the defects are down to routine maintenance.
“There is no excuse for having a taxi with bald tyres, even if the taxi is on the road 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which some of them are, with different drivers taking over.
“All it takes is five to ten minutes to check all the lights are working, the tyres are in order, and just general checks of the vehicle.
“One of the main issues on all of the checks are that the drivers are not securing the disabled ramps in the rear of the vehicle which then poses as a significant trip hazard to passengers, all it requires is the driver to do up one screw after use to secure it, a number of the vehicles had the screw completely missing and were therefore suspended from working until it had been replaced and secured.”
source:
http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/
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