Taxi Driver Online

Stats reveal shocking state and age of some vehicles in Derby's taxi fleet

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/d ... ge-4380357



Half of yellow hackney cabs inspected in Derby over a 12 month period from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020 were found to have serious defects and had their licences suspended.

Just two out of 102 inspected were found to be "satisfactory" - four less than the previous year - and 51 were identified as either having defective lights (11), brakes (13), steering (14), tyres (4) or suspension (8).

Fifty out of the 51 also had other defects "which can render a vehicle, if not always unsafe, certainly unfit for public service and/or in serious breach of licence conditions".

The statistics are contained in a report which is going to the city council's licensing committee next Thursday (August 6).

They also show that 75 private hire vehicles were also inspected with 16 of them proving to be "satisfactory" - up four on the previous year - but 28 were found to have serious defects.

Of the 28, 11 had problems with lights, six with brakes, steering (four), tyres (five) and there were four with suspension defects. A total of 25 of the private hire cars also had other problems also.

The report says that a risk-based approach was used and licensing compliance and enforcement officers often identify vehicles to inspect that appear to fall below the council’s standards for licensed vehicles.

It adds: "It is important therefore to understand that these statistics do not necessarily indicate the condition of all licensed vehicles."

And problems were discovered during eight inspection exercises carried out with Derbyshire police during the 12 months - six took place during the day and two at night.

Fifty-six licensed vehicles were inspected and of those, 30 vehicles were suspended and 14 were also served with a police prohibition notice.

The report also says that as of April 22, 2020, there were 329 licensed yellow cab drivers and 225 yellow cab vehicles licensed in Derby; there were 761 private hire drivers licensed and 844 licensed private hire vehicles.

The city also has 158 licensed private hire operators - up six from the previous year - 36 of of which are new.

When it came to taking knowledge tests of Derby during the year, only one out of three yellow cab drivers passed and among private hire drivers, six out of 34 passed, with six failing to turn up for the test.

In keeping with previous reports, the majority of the fleet of 225 yellow cabs are between 11 and 20 years-old, with six registered in 1998 and most of them registered in 2006.

Among the 844 private hire vehicles, 94 were registered in 2009, 75 in 2016 and 67 in 2008 - the oldest one being registered in 1997.

Last year, the committee voted against an officer proposal to reduce the age of taxis on the city's roads and also to ensure lower emissions by 2021. The council wanted to limit taxis to a maximum age of 10 years for diesel and 12 for what are known as ZEC ULEV vehicles, which are "ultra-low emission".

Instead, members of the licensing committee voted to introduce cleaner vehicles by 2025 and to make the maximum age of taxis 15 years.

The report also covers licence refusals of which there were six for private hire drivers and none for yellow cab drivers; two licences were revoked for each of the private hire and yellow cabs and three private hire licences were suspended.

The work undertaken by the taxi licensing service contained in the report will come under discussion during the meeting, which will be held virtually on Thursday from 6pm.

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IDFIMH

Where to start with all this? A blizzard of stats, and very heavy going if the reader wants to digest it all properly.

Can't say I've gone through it with a fine tooth comb, but even a quickish skim read throws up some questionable stuff:


Most of the first part of the article is about these 'inspections', but to that extent is confusing from the off. On further reading the 'inspections' are obviously spot-checks, while reading the above alone suggested to me that half of the HCs tested in the annual/six monthly tests had failed.

Not that the word 'inspection' is entirely incorrect in this context, but distinguishing between spot-checks and annual inspections (or whatever terminology is used) would have aided clarity.


Somehow doubt there are 83 PHVs sitting idle without a driver

Not impossible, of course, but I suspect the figures are either incorrect, or misleading in some way

Maybe the HCD licences also allow the drivers to drive PHVs (as is the case in Scotland - but a PHD badge only allows the driver to drive PHVs, so maybe that's how it works in Derby).


*Most* HCVs registered in 2006? What was the significance of 2006 that means most of Derby's HCs registered in that year?

Again, not impossible, but the figure looks dodgy

A bulb can go at any time and I really wish the powers that be stopped treating a blown bulb as a dangerous fault it isn't as long as it is corrected reasonably promptly !

As for steering and tyres well they will insist on that ridiculous turning circle resulting in a complicated mechanism which destroys front tyres.

Brakes and suspension well that is always a judgement call one mans dangerous is another mans still works ok but needs replacing soon



hmmmm... I wonder what these could be such as a piece of trim with a broken clip or a worn carpet ? a taxi is used a lot I think sometimes councils have unrealistic expectations of what level a vehicle is maintained to i'm sure we can all afford to spend several 1000 pounds a year constantly replacing seats, carpets and other trim as soon as they are no longer in "showroom condition"



so basically about 15 vehicles out of a total fleet size of 800 odd were defective. I would say that sounds about right although of course none should be as they are carrying members of the public

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Not sure where your figure of 15 comes from - I'm assuming you're excluding light defects, in which case there would be 19 with other defects?

But I suppose you're right, because the precise figure can't be workd out from the stats provided - the number of defects by category adds up to 30, while the number of vehicles with defects is stated as 28, so presumably two vehicles had two faults, or maybe one vehicle had three?

Just noticed another figure that doesn't add up, though. The article states:

- 16 PHVs were 'satisfactory'
- 28 PHVs had 'serious defects'
- 25 PHVs had 'other problems'

So that's 69 PHVs in total, yet the piece states that 75 PHVs were inspected

So again that's either another error, or there's one category that's been omitted

Maybe six were considered 'unsatisfactory', but not quite 'problematic'