Taxi Driver Online

20 Mar 2008

Taxi ban shock

ALMOST four out of five taxis tested in a spot check in Nelson were
banned from the roads because of serious faults.

Just four of the 18 vehicles passed the test. The other 14 were suspended
and had their Pendle Council taxi plates taken away there and then.

And Pendle Council's taxi chief, Coun. Allan Buck, said he was "shocked"
by the results.

All but one of the vehicles were private hire cars – there was just one
hackney carriage.

The operation was carried out by Pendle Council's taxi licensing officers,
accompanied by Lancashire Constabulary Road Policing Unit and VOSA,
the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency.

A Pendle Council spokeswoman said: "The main reasons were tyres,
steering and brakes. The majority of the necessary work was done that
evening or the following day and they were back on the road. Only one
remained off the road.

"A full report is going to the April meeting of the council's Taxi Licensing
Committee. Coun. Allan Buck, the council's Executive member responsible
for taxi licensing, has arranged a meeting with the Pendle Taxi Drivers'
Association to discuss the issues on March 27th.

"Last year, spot checks were carried out in Barnoldswick and Colne. The
licensing committee made it clear they wanted to carry out spot checks at
least three times a year."

Coun. Buck said: "When I saw this, I was shocked. This is just poor quality
maintenance and servicing. There are tests regularly, but we have got
more spot checks scheduled. We are determined to improve the quality of
taxis here in Pendle.

"If it means taking more vehicles off the road, we will rigorously do that."

Coun. Buck said he planned to meet with the borough's hackney carriage
and private representatives to find out what action they were going to take
to stop this embarrassing failure happening again.

He said: "These vehicles are carrying members of the public who expect
to have a safe journey."

Mr Mohammed Akram, chairman of the Pendle Taxi Operators'
Association, said: "Taxis all have the same problems across the country.
We are doing what we can and we are co-operative.

"Taxis are on the road 24 hours a day and always things will go wrong.
But safety is the priority. We always advise our members to maintain their
vehicles to the standards required by the licensing authority.

"I am confident that things will get better and that more will pass spot
checks next time."

Source: Pendle Today
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_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

But that was the only one stopped. 100% failure.

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IDFIMH