Taxi Driver Online

Derby taxi fleet faces renewed safety questions

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-de ... e-43477912

(Worth visiting BBC website to view the video there)

Taxis in Derby are safe, officials say, despite four out of five inspected in spot checks being taken off the road.

Police said one vehicle was "the worst seen in a long time" and "as rotten as a pear", with corrosion making seats unsafe.

Despite the results of the checks on Monday, the city council insisted it had confidence in the wider vehicle licensing system it uses.

But it said a change from annual to six monthly checks was being consulted on.

In the monthly inspection - held by the council and police - all five private hire vehicles and hackney carriages pulled over had defects, with four drivers immediately having their vehicle licence suspended.

Safety issues included seats that would fall through the floor in the event of a crash, sparking batteries posing a fire risk under the bonnet, and suspension that was snapped in half.

In November, police said the city's taxis were in "unacceptably poor" condition.

They revealed just 38 of nearly 300 Hackney carriages licensed in Derby were under 10 years old - the oldest being 23 years old.

PC Matt Walker, from Derbyshire Police, who carried out the checks, said: "I would expect a professional driver to be absolutely spot on with their vehicle, especially if they're carrying around members of the public in them, and that's not what we're seeing."

Imtiaz Ali, whose vehicle licence was suspended during Monday's checks, denied he was unconcerned about safety.

'Rigorous inspection'

"I'll make sure it was up to standard. I don't care about the public - first of all safety is for me," Mr Ali, whose taxi was first registered in 2002, said.

"Then, of course, I like to see the people safe as well."

Unlike other local authorities, the city council has no restrictions on the age of its taxis.

But Baggy Shanker, cabinet member for governance, said: "They do go through a rigorous inspection when the inspection is due.

"There are various inspection stations across the city and I'm sure none of these test stations would pass a vehicle which is not safe to be passed, so I'm confident in the system."

But Baggy Shanker

what a name should have been a banker

As I always say a well kept 10 year old vehicle can be better than a badly kept 5 year old age is NOT the best way to control a fleet other than enforcing premature obsolescence

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

Think this guy needs to work on his PR

What's interesting in Derby though is that police seem to be taking the lead here and there's implied criticism of the council's approach. Council obviously on the defensive about the whole thing. Normally police and local authorities simply parrot the same message.

Remind me what is rotten about a pear?

As for the quality of the motors, quite shocking.

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IDFIMH

I agree that professional drivers should take better care of their cars. Too often in my area I see cabs going round with defective lights and such. OK, all "minor" items, but if it was a bus that had been spot-checked by the DVSA a defective light would attract an immediate prohibition. A defective light is also an absolute offence in the eyes of the law, either it works or it doesn't!

There's been numerous discussions about vehicle age and as others have said it's not the age of the vehicle but the condition of it that matters. In my view it's time that taxis and private hire were brought into line with buses when it comes to safety checks and daily walk-round inspections, and have national standards instead of the hotch-potch we have at the moment.

Our drivers have a daily walk around check sheet but we know that most of the time they just tick the boxes without actually checking.

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Grandad,

The state of Derby's cabs do leave a lot to be desired. I see them on a daily basis and there's some shockers. The colour doesn't help the look of them though.

Are these LTIs just poor quality motors, or is the age and mileage that's the particular issue?

Came across this MOT failure from 2014, was nine years old and had done 250,000 miles. Presumably maintenance not particularly onerous :

Reason(s) for failure
•Nearside Front Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect (1.8.A.1b)
•Nearside Headlamp aim too low (1.8 )
•Electrical wiring insecure (1.9.2a)
•Nearside Front Lower Front suspension ball joint dust cover excessively deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.4.G.2)
•Nearside Front suspension has excessive play in a lower suspension ball joint (2.5.B.1a)
•Offside Front suspension has excessive play in a upper suspension ball joint (2.5.B.1a) Dangerous
•Tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.E.1)
•Nearside Front wheel bearing has excessive play (2.5.A.3c)
•Offside Front position lamp(s) not working (1.1.A.3b)
•Service brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.B.7)
•Parking brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.B.7)

Advisory notice item(s)
•coolant light on
•indicator switch assy slightly loose
•starting fault
•heater vent pipe rubbing on throttle padal linkage
•slight play in wiper linkage
•offside front door check strap damaged
•glow plug light flashing
•spare tyre soft
•rear wiper inop
•brake fluid low
•power steering pipe rubbing on induction pipe
•nearside brake pad sensor wiring disconnected and damaged
•suspect offside front drop links hitting road spring
•front and rear crossbars damaged at bumpers
•oil leak from engine
•front sills damaged
•offside rear tyre worn on edges 2.5mm
•nearside rear light unit slightly damaged
•tyre size 175/16

Surely the above is enough evidence to strip the owner of his license?

Defo not fit and proper.

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IDFIMH

Of course, to a degree many owners concentrate on the council test and not so much on the MoT, assuming council will assess them only on the results of their own test, and not MoT records.

I mean, does any council routinely scrutinise MoT records?

We don't have MOTs, but our compliance tests have tick sheets and any failures have to be noted.

Then once they are rectified the council get a pass certificate and a copy of the original sheet including all the failure issues.

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IDFIMH

Could have just said 'split boot'.

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IDFIMH

In Fife MoT and council test are unrelated, and you could fail an MoT without consequence, but fail the council test and all hell breaks loose - £100 retest fee, appearance before the committee with view to suspension (although usually just slapped wrist) and interim spot check during the year.

But the council does MoTs as well, so some owners now taking cars there for MoT just before council test, and if they fail the MoT they can get it repaired for the council test without consequence.

So tested by same people at same council depot, but very different consequences.

One problem though is that the depot will remove the plate if it fails an MoT, but as long as it's retested there's no further consequences. But I know one guy who took his car to an independent garage for an MoT, then to council for MoT a few days later, just a few days before taxi test.

It's all a farce, and could say a lot more, but you never know who could be reading