Taxi Driver Online

This is a post on the South Wales Police Facebook page.

Assuming the 'minibuses' aren't plated as HCs and PHVs, then this isn't the worst result for the trade considering they stopped 120 cars. But certainly not the best either.

On the other hand, the minibus figures are awful - I don't know if the cited figures include overlaps, but looks like very few of the minibuses got a clean bill of health



Last weekend our Special Constabulary led a joint taxi operation alongside Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency, Cardiff Council and Newport City Council taxi licensing teams.

The aim of the operation was to run checks on taxis to ensure the vehicles are fully insured, licensed and safe to drive. As part of the operation, approximately 130 taxis and 20 minibuses were stopped. Of the 150 vehicles:

11 minibuses were issued prohibition notices by the DVSA.

4 taxis had stop notices placed upon them and 6 were issues improvement notices.

1 minibus seized by police for no insurance and license and 1 vehicle seized and recovered by DVSA for being unsafe.

6 taxis and 6 minibuses had immediate prohibitions and were immobilised by DVSA for being unroadworthy.

11 taxis and 5 minibuses were issued delayed prohibition notices by DVSA.

2 drivers reported to court for using vehicles in a dangerous condition.

Chief Superintendent for Cardiff and the Vale, Marc Attwell, said: “During the run up to Christmas the roads in and out of Cardiff become busier and the public must be able to trust the taxis they use. This is why operations like this are so important.

“So much of what we do as a force would not be possible without our Special Constabulary giving up their free time to help police our communities. We are extremely grateful for their vital work on this taxi operation.

“As a force we are committed to taking unsafe vehicles off the road, protecting lives and keeping the public safe.”

And this is what happens - the headline on the Wales Online news site simply mentions 'taxis', thus misleadingly framing the whole thing. The main part of the article is almost a straight copy and paste job...


Police targeted city's taxis and what they found was staggering

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wale ... t-32930157

'The public must be able to trust the taxis they use'

Police held an operation to check the safety of taxis in Cardiff, and the results were staggering. Officers from South Wales Police stopped 150 vehicles and found a host of problems including unsafe and unroadworthy vehicles.

The photos aren't typical of the genre, but high-res versions here if anyone feels the need.

But certainly no sign of a plate on that minibus

(Not clear what's been blurred out just below the rear window on the minibus, but certainly doesn't look like it's a council plate - maybe some kind of company name or logo )

https://scontent.fgla2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=69297972

https://scontent.fgla2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=6929A418

https://scontent.fgla2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=692985BE

https://scontent.fgla2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=69299252

And even police simply using the t-word

which photo are you referring to ?

If it's the latter there is some blurring out at the bottom of the rear window which would be consistent with the size and shape of a plate

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

Well I can only see one photo of a minibus

https://scontent.fgla2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=69299252

And don't think I've ever seen a plate that would fit in that space between the bottom of the window and the TRANSIT lettering.

The number plate has been blurred, obviously, and there's a possiblity there could be a square number plate and the council's licence plate as well, which is a fairly widespread arrangement.

But at a rough guess I'd say there isn't a square number plate there either - the blurring wouldn't quite cover it.

So, to my eyes at least, there's very little in the photo to suggest a council plate is present and has been blurrred out

And, I mean, there's plenty of space for a plate on the back doors there (unlike some saloons etc), so why bother with square number plates or stick it in the small blurred area when there's a ton of room for a council plate?

when I owned a tourneo the plate was slightly longer and a bit narrower than the number plate but I have seen vehicles with plates less wide

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

11 out of 20 is quite appalling.

But isn't it in Wales where we see numerous school buses being pulled over for not being legal?

So maybe some of those minibuses, if not all of them, are run by those iffy school firms.

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IDFIMH

Minibuses with more than 8 passenger seats come under PSV licencing and won't have a council plate, they "should" have either a PSV operators disc in the front window or a community bus permit. A minibus displaying a PSV operators disc (blue for standard national or green for international) can operate for hire and reward under he terms of the PSV operators licence. The driver must have the correct licence and driver CPC card an be using a tachograph. Anything else is illegal if fares are being charged.

It's a well-known fact that the majority of minibuses in the Uk operate illegally and have a high failure rate at annual test. The more that get taken off the road the better for everyone, especially those who operate within the law.