Taxi Driver Online

Seven in ten Blackburn and Darwen taxi/private hire tests failed

More than seven in ten of a borough's taxi and private hire vehicles fail their initial road worthiness test, council documents reveal.

And 70 per cent of the cabs in Blackburn with Darwen are at least ten years old.

The figures are revealed in a report by the authority's environment boss Cllr Jim Smith.

It follows a request from Blackburn with Darwen Taxi Forum for a review of the testing regime.

It asked for the work to be outsourced to private garages rather than all conducted at the council's Motor Vehicle Service Station at it Davyfield Depot.

More than seven in ten of a borough's taxi and private hire vehicles fail their initial road worthiness test, council documents reveal.

Conservative councillor and taxi driver Tiger Patel said: "The Blackburn with Darwen taxi and private hire vehicle testing regime is too strict, too expensive and there are too few testing stations.

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"The cost of retesting is one of the highest in the country.

"We want to have five independent testing stations in Blackburn and two in Darwen.

"The council does not want to lose its £750,000 income from testing our vehicles."

Cllr Smith's report decides to keep the current system and single testing station at Davyfield Depot.

It says: "The taxi/private hire trade within Blackburn with Darwen have requested a review of the vehicle safety testing provision within the borough.

"The last review was in 2018.

"The current system requires all vehicles to be tested at the council’s Motor Vehicle Service Station (MVSS). A number of the trade would prefer more options.

"The age profile of the private hire and hackney carriage fleet shows 70 per cent of vehicles are at least 10-years-old.

"On first presentation to MVSS for testing 72 per cent fail.

"Of the retests carried out the average percentage free of charge is 27.

"The cost of the test at MVSS has not increased since 2015.

"The in-house model ensures good controls in consistency of testing but does not allow for competition.

"Introducing competition may bring about a reduction in the cost of the actual test but this is likely to be eroded by increased costs for tendering, contract monitoring and administration which would be added into the cost of a licence.

"The principal purpose of hackney carriage and private hire licensing is to protect the public and promote public safety.

"Until 10 years ago the council required all private hire vehicles to be less than 10 years old. For hackney carriage vehicles the age limit was 15 years.

"Current data indicates that tests are available within 24 hours.

"Some members feel the testing regime may be over stringent, however a spot check by DVSA in summer 2021 confirmed testing is in line with their requirements."

A further review will take place in 2025.

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

It's all down to keeping the council's depot going.

They know that if drivers have a choice to get their vehicles tested elsewhere then the depot would be closed.

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IDFIMH

If anyone thinks a 72 per cent failure rate is 'gutter press sensationalism', then what do they think of a 7.2 per cent failure rate in East Fife being reported like we're the biggest threat to safety in the UK taxi trade?

But, to be fair, the reportage relating to East Fife annual inspections is more to do with council 'sensationalism' rather than the press. I mean, if numerous Fife councillors and officials don't think it's all a tad disproportionate, why should the press?

Council testing stations are notorious for looking for anything they can fail vehicles on so that 72% failure rate might well be cut by 2 thirds if it went to being done by MOT garages. So I don't consider it a bad figure as most of it is probably marginal things like wind screen wipers getting close to needing replacement etc.

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

I'm not sure the problem is the failure rate, more the time it takes to get a retest.

If the garage fails the vehicle on some pi**y little things then although that's a pain it's not going to bankrupt anyone.

But waiting weeks for a retest can.

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IDFIMH

Edders, you may have a point about councils being overzealous, but some of our Fife council garages returned 0 per cent and 1 per cent failure rates for years, so obviously at the other end of the scale from the 72 per cent in Blackburn

And I suspect the age of the cars in Blackburn is a major factor - 70 per cent are over ten years old.

It's probably a cultural thing, too (no, not that kind of culture ).

So there's probably not much pre-checking done, because if everyone else is failing, then there's not much incentive for drivers to get pre-checks done etc. And there doesn't seem to be any consequences for failing apart from getting a retest done.

Contrast with here in Fife where the fail rate is very low, and you're hauled over the coals if you fail, plus £100 retest fee, plus an extra random test during the year.

So drivers more inclined to get pre-checks done and run better cars (we're five-years on/ten-years off as well, which no doubt helps the inspection pass rates).

But, of course, that also indicates that the figures here in Fife are misleading and make the pass rate seem better than it would be compared to Blackburn - faults are picked up in pre-tests, thus not during the council tests, and it makes our pass rate look a lot better than elsewhere, but it doesn't necessarily follow that the cars are commensurately safer.

But it's politics at the end of the day, so what often matters is the optics, not the substance.

Saw a Doncastle WAV hackney today, and it was 53-plated.

To be fair it didn't look 20 years old, in fact it looked about 50.

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IDFIMH

where is Doncastle ? I've never heard of that council

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

All that northern air has fried my mind.

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IDFIMH

Maybe the pass/fail rate ought to be compared to the figures released by the DVLA on an annual basis. I can't remember the exact figures, but the highest first-time failure rate for "white vans" is something like 45% fail; cars about 35%; lorries 12%, buses 8%. The reason so many vans fail is that they are test-exempt for the first 3 years and never get looked at, much the same goes for cars. Because lorries and buses have a strict preventative maintenance scheme, their failure rate is a lot lower. Commonest failure items for lorries and buses is lighting defects.

If what I've read about the Fife pass rate is right, then it shows that a pre-test examination or maybe drivers take more care of their cars, bring the pass rate up. when I was in the PH business, I always done regular safety checks on my cars and the only failures I had was a rear indicator light not being orange nough and a brake imbalance which was not explained. The car failed, I drove it home, drove it back and it passed. Mystery. And that car was over 10 years old.

I'll go back on what I've said on here over the years, all taxis and PHVs should have a national standard to work to.