Taxi Driver Online

The vast majority of taxis spot-checked in Oldham in the past year failed their MOT. Of 230 Hackney carriage and private-hire vehicles tested, 170 were found to have defects.

And while some were back on the road the next day, others had to be taken out of service with problems ranging from brake defects to four bald tyres.

Of 140 checked between September and March, 52 were found to have major faults. The 75 per cent failure figure was greeted with a mixture of surprise and unease by taxi-users on the streets of Oldham yesterday.

Bing Findlater (40), from Royton, said: “It isn’t good. They should be checking more often. When you jump in a taxi you expect them to be to a standard better than your own car.”

Valerie Corner (52), from Werneth, commented: “They have got to be 101 per cent safe because they aren’t cheap. The Government needs to clamp down.”

Diane Murphy (38), from Fitton Hill, uses taxis every day. She said: “They found the same thing when they did checks on buses I seem to remember. I always put my seat belt on when I get in a cab.”

Oldham Council’s principal licensing officer, John Garforth, admitted the figures were a concern but insisted that the borough’s taxi fleet was generally safe. “People shouldn’t be worrying about the quality of the vehicles they are getting into,” he said. “Random spot checks, which council officers carry out with the police and government vehicle inspectors, are mounted in addition to mandatory safety tests every six months.

“Some companies have their own systems on top of that, but there are individual drivers who don’t look after vehicles as much as others do, which is why these spot-checks are in place. “This is about trying to maintain public confidence.”

There are 85 Hackney cabs — those permitted to pick-up on the street — and about 700 private-hire vehicles registered in Oldham. The spot-check figures were part of a licensing committee report outlining what the council’s licensing service has achieved in the past year. This includes taking over responsibility for liquor licensing from magistrates and processing 3,500 licences — including 304 for new private-hire vehicles — and three sex shop renewals.

Licensing officers have begun using a new rapid response vehicle on safety spotchecks and surveillance. Part of their work is now spent monitoring Oldham town centre on Friday and Saturday nights.

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IDFIMH

Oldham has a mixture of both Saloon and black cab type vehicles with the majority of vehicles being saloons.

They have one of the highest plate values in the country at 50 grand and rising but wouldn't it have been more helpful if the report had defined separately the number of Hackney and Private hire vehicles involved.

To lump both Hackney and Private hire together could be misleading so in order to clarify the data I asked Mr. Garforth why he didn't separate the figures? He told me this was the first report of its kind that he had undertaken and in future the data in all such reports will distinguish between Hackney and Private hire vehicles.

That answers the question as to why the data wasn't separated, if anyone is wondering why?

In order to find out the true picture I asked Mr Garforth for the breakdown of vehicle types, he told me in the seven month period from September to March, Oldham tested approximately 17 hackney carriage vehicles, which amounts to 20% of the hackney carriage fleet.

Oldham have in place an age restriction policy, Hackney carriages saloon type vehicles must be replaced after 8 years and Black Cab purpose built vehicles must be replaced after 12 years. I would have thought that if Hackney saloon vehicles are replaced every 8 years then the same would apply to private hire vehicles.

Oldham checked 140 vehicles in seven months that's 20 a month of which 17 were hackney carriages and 123 must have been Private hire vehicles. Some 37% or 52 of these vehicles were found to have a major fault. The percentage figures for both categories of vehicles tested equate to 17% Private hire and 20% hackney carriage.

I suppose in percentage terms there is equilibrium in the number of vehicles tested but I suspect Oldham will be looking for a substantial improvement in vehicle maintenance the next time they carry out a similar exercise.

Regards

JD

Spot-check MOTs - whatever next

Makes a change to see quotes from the public in the story though

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

i dont think the council has ever done a proper spotcheck on cabs.
they check for bald tyres and badges on the ranks. but never mechanical issues.
still we have got a new hackney carriage officer so he might do his job for a while.