Taxi Driver Online

Keighley taxi boss blasts moves to relax cab licensing conditions in the district




A Keighley taxi boss has blasted moves to relax cab licensing conditions in the district.

Councillors have backed various changes, including slashing the minimum age for drivers from 21 to 18.

The measures would also allow the use of vehicles up to ten years old, instead of the current eight.

Stuart Hastings, owner of Metro Taxis in Church Street, described the proposals as “madness”. “A taxi should be as new as possible, and after five years, off the road,” he said.

“The average age of our vehicles is between two-and-a-half and three years, and we service them regularly and look after them properly. The car has got to be fit for purpose and that should be the operator’s responsibility, even if the driver owns the vehicle.

“These changes will be bad for the safety of customers and are to look after taxi drivers rather than the passenger.

“If anything, I don’t think procedures are strict enough. The industry should be policed more. If some people knew what they were riding around in, they wouldn’t get in the car.”

A recent Bradford Council report revealed four out of ten cabs in the district were failing random vehicle checks. And it highlighted a quarter of taxis and minicabs were not being produced for tests.

The changes are also opposed by Worth Valley councillor Glen Miller, leader of the Conservative group on the council.

He said reducing the minimum age for a driver to 18 would be “irresponsible towards the customers”.

“It is common knowledge young drivers have significantly more accidents than people who have been driving for a number of years,” he added.

But the new measures are welcomed by Keighley Central Labour councillor Abid Hussain.

He said: “It is a very difficult time for taxi businesses at the moment because of the recession. This is a good change, and means more people have the facilities and opportunity to run their own business.”

source: http://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/news ... _district/

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

"A recent Bradford Council report revealed four out of ten cabs in the district were failing random vehicle checks. And it highlighted a quarter of taxis and minicabs were not being produced for tests".

This then shows an appalling lack of checking on the licencing authority's behalf if they allow untested vehicles to remain in service. No doubt they'll blame spending cuts. But then this also highlights the appalling lack of attention by the operators or drivers who never check their vehicles except when it goes for its compliance check.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

That's not strictly true now is it, we have eight seater vehicles licensed here and they can't be licensed with a tip up seat, all passengers have to have an easy exit.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

My 8 passenger Fiat Ducato does not require any seat to be moved or tipped. Neither did my Renault Master, when we had it.

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Grandad,

how the feck did this councillor get selected by the Party ffs

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All posts by this contributor are made in a strictly personal capacity

I AM PROUD TO BE A CITIZEN NOBODY'S SUBJECT http://www.republic.org.u

F88K EM ALL WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE

People of your ilk voting him in.

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IDFIMH

I'm damn sure I could get out of the rear of an 8 seater quicker than I could escape from say a Plane, Train or Boat..one wee flick of a lever and your out.

Yet they'd quite happily have you standing on a train at a 120 miles per hour or even on a bus at 30 MPH....will they ban these as they represent an ever bigger risk to passengers in the event of an accident?

What a bunch of W-Anchors..