Rules to ensure taxis are safe need to be tightened up, says boss of Keighley firm BRADFORD Council's existing regime for ensuring taxi vehicle safety is not tough enough, according to a Keighley private hire firm boss.
Stuart Hastings, who owns Metro Keighley Taxis, says far too many private hire cars are failing inspections.
"People want to know they are getting into a safe car with a safe driver," he said. "Right now, they are not getting that. There is too big a risk that the car they get into is dangerous."
But a Bradford Council spokesman rejected the claim, arguing the present system is up to scratch.
"It is not correct to say Bradford Council's taxi inspection system is putting customers’ lives at risk," he said.
"We are confident the vehicle inspection system achieves its purpose of making sure taxi customers are as safe as possible."
Mr Hastings said a meeting he attended with council officers from Bradford’s Hackney Carriage licensing department heard that 40 per cent of private hire vehicles in Bradford district are failing safety checks, with 20 per cent having dangerous faults, such as bald tires.
Mr Hastings said the Hackney Carriage department officers are doing their best, but need more staff and political backing from councillors.
"Under the old system, taxis less than five years old had to be inspected once a year and taxis five to eight years old twice a year," he added.
"This was relaxed a few years ago, meaning taxis up to ten years old only need to be checked once a year. We need the original system brought back.
"Also, drivers whose cars fail the vehicle safety test first time only have to pay a small sum of £20 for the second test. They should instead have to pay the full test fee of about £160 again. If that happened, you'd see the 40 per cent failure rate drop to nearly zero."
But the council spokesman added: “The majority of vehicles failing inspections do so because of minor infringements of the rules, not major safety concerns, which would put customers in danger.
“We accept a 40 per cent inspection failure rate is disappointing, and our taxi licensing service is working with operators and drivers to try and improve the figures.
"We are confident Bradford taxis compare favourably with those from other local authorities, and will continue to do so in the future."
Mr Hastings has previously spoken out against private hire cars in Keighley and Bradford district holding licences from the Lancashire borough of Rossendale, where driver and vehicle checks are said to be less stringent.
Bradford Council now says it will impose more rules on cab companies that employ drivers with non-Bradford licences.
Under these plans, minicab firms would be forced to install separate customer phone lines for the cabbies licensed by other areas.
People calling this number would hear a recorded message warning them the drivers did not hold Bradford licenses, so Bradford Council couldn't act on any complaints about the service.
source:
http://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/1430 ... hley_firm/
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