Taxi Driver Online

It's that time of the year again

And yet another carbon copy report in the press.

Not really much to say here that I haven't said a million times before


Taxi operators slammed after ‘shocking’ inspection failure results

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/politi ... ts-8655906

A senior Fife councillor has slammed taxi operators in part of Fife saying he was “deeply concerned” over the latest inspection test results.

Figures for the period from February to May were outlined to members of Fife Council’s Regulations and Licensing Committee on Tuesday.

They showed a total of 203 vehicles licensed in East Fife were inspected but only 168 passed first time.

The remaining 35 failed, providing a pass rate of 83 per cent which was an improvement on last year’s figure of 78 per cent.

ut, this compared to a 99 per cent pass rate in the Levenmouth area where 79 vehicles were checked and only one fail was recorded. In West Fife, 112 vehicles were tested and 110 passed first time.

Councillor Tom Adams, committee convener, said: “Once again, North East Fife has let us down again,” he said. “I am at a loss of what we can do to get them and North East Fife to start to comply with what Fife Council expects.

“We are going to have to come up with something. We have had them in, we have had meetings in the chamber, we even went out on roadshows to speak to them and it is just not working. I am deeply, deeply concerned at what is going on in this area.”

Councillor David MacDiarmid (Howe of Fife and Tay Coast, SNP) said he was “shocked” at the figures.

“I am shocked by every report we get for North East Fife but this one disturbs me,” he said. “We have got to get a handle on it – there is no question about it – because this is absolutely shocking.

“This is absolutely shocking. I would get them in and raise the riot act. As long as we keep on brushing this under the carpet, the more it will happen. If they are not going to clean up their act, get them out.”

Fellow ward councillor Donald Lothian highlighted differences in the North East Fife area to other parts of Fife.

“The east area is 10 or 20 times geographically the size. It is probably three or four times the area of Levenmouth.

“I know from living in East Fife there is an issue with the capacity in garages and it is not helpful if the nearest available garage is 80 miles away – I know how difficult it is to get my car fixed. It really is a problem. It is not an excuse but when distances are involved, it is not helpful.”

Cllr Adams, however, was not convinced.

He added. “The rules are the same as for every other operator in Fife and they have to comply. They have continuously over the years broken the rules and keep on breaking them. Geographical stuff, although you may have a point, it doesn’t wear with me.”

The committee decided that those in the East Fife area who had failed for a first time and had no history of cars failing would have to attend a meeting with the committee convener and vice convener to discuss the situation.

Those with a record of inspection failures will be brought before the full committee.

And, again, they've changed the procedures on the fly - remember all the song and dance about every failure facing a full suspension hearing?

That's all been abandoned, obviously. But no official communication about it all. So they like to keep you in the dark about it all. What was that I keep on saying about the whole 'the process is the punishment' thing?

But even an appearance before the convenor and vice convenor for every failure is totally disproportionate. I mean, you can get an MoT one day, and fail the taxi inspection the next day and you're up in front of them

Well, if you don't know what to do, I suggest you stand down to be replaced by someone who does.

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IDFIMH

It would make more sense if they categorised the defects foun. Brakes/tyres/steering/dangerous condition? Lights not working? Badge not displayed? the daftest failure I had when I was doing PH was an orange indicator bulb that wasn't orange enough! Were the defects found "new" defects or histiric defects that may have been noted on MoT or whatever test?

But if they did that, which IMO makes sense, those councillors wouldn't be able to grandstand when it's shown that the vast majority of faults were down to stickers.

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IDFIMH

Well, chaps, that's all related to one feature I meant to mention - for years they've been listing the failure items on the agenda papers, and naming all plateholders, pass or fail

This time they haven't, and they didn't last time either, when one or two of the other zones had their figures announced. I thought it was maybe an administrative glitch (there seem to have been a few issues with agenda papers etc, which I think may be down to a change in senior staff) but someone somewhere has obviously made a decision to stop listing all the vehicles tested and all the failure items.

And which always looked suspect to me anyway - I've never seen any other council do that, and the change of policy is perhaps an admission that it's a bit iffy. And maybe it provides too much information for critics, along the lines of what Roy was alluding to earlier, maybe.

Anyway, EFTA has picked up on this, and this seems to be a press release they've issued. Funnily enough, I came across it via PHTM's Facebook page, and EFTA hasn't posted it on either their website or own Facebook page, which seems a bit odd, since they're, er, very online


EFTA DEMANDS ANSWERS AFTER FIFE TAXI TRADE BRANDED 'SHOCKING' WITHOUT EVIDENCE

The East Fife Taxi Association has accused Fife Council of unfairly attacking local taxi operators while withholding the very data needed to justify its claims.

Following comments made at this week's Regulation and Licensing Committee meeting, EFTA says councillors have chosen headline-grabbing criticism over transparency and evidence.

EFTA spokesperson Linda Holt said:

"Local taxi operators have been publicly condemned by councillors who have failed to provide the detailed inspection data needed to support their claims.

The first-time pass rate in North East Fife has improved from 78% to 83%, yet councillors have chosen to portray the trade as a problem rather than recognising that operators are working hard to improve standards."

The association is particularly concerned that detailed inspection information which was previously made publicly available has not been published this year.

"Last year, detailed inspection information allowed proper scrutiny of the figures. This year, councillors have made serious accusations against local operators while withholding the data that would allow the public to judge the facts for themselves.

The obvious question is: what are they trying to hide?

If councillors are confident in their claims, they should publish the full inspection results, including the nature and severity of all failures, and allow independent scrutiny."

EFTA also questioned whether testing standards are being applied consistently across Fife.

"We continue to hear reports from operators across Fife that different testing centres apply different levels of discretion when dealing with defects identified during inspections.

"If one area records an immediate fail while another allows defects to be rectified during the inspection process, comparing pass rates becomes highly misleading."

The association says councillors have failed to recognise the financial pressures faced by operators.

"Taxi operators have spent years absorbing rising costs while Fife Council repeatedly delayed meaningful fare reviews. Even when fare increases were eventually approved, many operators felt they failed to reflect the true costs of running and maintaining licensed vehicles.

Despite this, operators continue investing significant sums in vehicle maintenance, insurance, licensing, fuel and compliance requirements in order to provide a vital public service.

Rather than attacking hard-working local businesses, councillors should be thanking operators for continuing to serve communities despite increasingly difficult trading conditions."

EFTA reiterated its call for Councillor Tom Adams to resign as Convener of the Regulation and Licensing Committee.

"The comments made this week demonstrate once again a lack of balance, fairness and leadership.

"Councillor Adams appears more interested in publicly berating operators than addressing legitimate concerns about transparency, consistency and the challenges facing the taxi trade.

"The taxi industry deserves evidence-based regulation, not political grandstanding."

Who knew?

That's been questioned for years and years now, but it's always been denied. But the figures should be self-evident proof of that, at least to anyone who knows anything about the trade etc. I mean, does anyone really believe a taxi inspection process stricter than an MoT could for years on end throw up pass rates like 98/99/100 per cent?

I mean, if you put a few hundred average UK taxis through an MoT and then took it for another MoT the next day, I suspect the failure rate for the latter would be higher than some of the Fife garages have been returning for the taxi inspections for years on end.

What I mean is that with high-mileage cars several-years-old and used in a tough environment like taxiing, even if you prepare them to MoT standard and get them through the MoT, if you took them for another MoT then chances are quite a few would throw up faults that the first MoT didn't detect, or made a slightly different judgement on.

So no matter how well the taxis in the other Fife zones are maintained and prepared, to get 99/100 per cent pass rates in an inspection just doesn't ring true