Taxi and private hire op ‘disappointing’
October 13, 2010
Faults were found with a number of taxis and private hire cars during spot checks in Station Hill.
Enforcement officers carried out the checks at the old bus station from 7pm to 10pm on Thursday, September 30.
Thirty-nine taxis and 36 private hire cars were checked in all aspects of safety including road-worthiness of the vehicle, insurance cover and to make sure the driver held an appropriate licence.
Fifteen of the vehicles failed the checks with
13 of them having tyres worn beyond the legal limit. One private hire car had worn suspension and a hackney carriage had a broken headlight.
Two further hackney carriage drivers were found not to have a valid licence and did not display identification badges.
Reading Borough Council’s licensing department teamed up with Wokingham and South Oxfordshire councils, Thames Valley Police, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, Inland Revenue and the UK Borders Agency, to carry out the checks.
Environmental health manager Clare Bradley said: “It’s disappointing to see 20 per cent of vehicles checked were not complying with the law.
“The last time we carried out a similar operation, in August, no vehicles failed safety checks, though that was a smaller scale operation.
“Reading Borough Council takes public safety extremely seriously.
“We expect drivers of vehicles serving the public to ensure their vehicles are well maintained at all times. The council will be taking further action where deficiencies have been identified and will be undertaking further safety checks in the near future.”
Source; http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2080 ... appointing
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