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Leicester Mercury
December 19, 2007 Wednesday
Danger cabs are forced off road
A crackdown on faulty taxis saw almost half of the vehicles checked ordered off the road last weekend.
City council licensing officers carried out spot checks on 34 Hackney carriages on Saturday.
Sixteen of the cabs had defects which were considered so bad they were issued with prohibition notices and immediately suspended from service.
Eight of the vehicles had their licences permanently revoked, with the council saying the combination of defects and their age - more than eight years - meant they were no longer suitable for use as taxis.
The other vehicles will have to be repaired before they can return to service.
Faults discovered included corroded brake pipes, fuel leaks, broken coil springs, brake hydraulic cylinder leaks, faulty hand-brakes and chassis defects.
Councillor Robert Wann said: "It is vitally important that licensing staff carry out these checks, especially at Christmas when taxis are more heavily used.
"It is obviously much-needed looking at the results, with almost half of vehicles failing the checks."
Council licensing officers carried out the checks along with police and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA).
However, Kashmir Singh, the Leicestershire and Rutland secretary of the RMT union, which represents taxi drivers, said some of the faults identified by the checks could not be found by mechanics afterwards.
He said: "One driver was told there was a crack in the chassis, but the mechanic couldn't find it.
"I will advise these drivers to take it further and have their vehicles examined. We should have an independent person present at the checks to prove that what they're doing is right."
He said drivers had also been kept waiting for the checks to take place.
"When they took them in for checks, drivers had to wait for hours and hours before they were tested," he said.
"That's not good for the public at all. It was freezing as well. Drivers are not very happy about they way they were treated."
Taxi users in Leicester today said they were shocked that so many vehicles had been ordered off the road in the check.
Stuart Young, 29, from New Parks, Leicester, said: "I think 16 out of 34 is disgusting. It's going to take an accident to get anything to change.
"But I do have some sympathy for the taxi drivers because I know they pay out a lot of money to have a licence, and they also get a lot of abuse."
Emma Statham, 28, from Stoneygate, used to drive a private hire car in Loughborough.
She said: "I worked for a cab company and they were very strict about making sure our cars were roadworthy - and it was a big priority for us, so I'm surprised so many taxis weren't good enough - they're putting lives at risk."
So far this year, 207 Hackney carriage and private hire vehicles have been checked in the city.
There are more than 300 taxis licensed in Leicester.
Of those checked, 37 have been issued with prohibition notices, four have been given rectification notices and 17 have had their licences revoked.
However, five drivers successfully appealed against the revoking of their licences.
Last year, 79 taxis were inspected and 31 were given prohibition notices.
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