...CENTRAL UNLICENSED LIVERPOOL TAXIS SEIZED CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL CABS IN LEEDS
Three unlicensed taxis have been taken off Liverpool streets in a crackdown.
According to the Liver- pool Echo, the operation by city council licensing offi- cers and Merseyside Police saw a private hire driver have his vehicle seized for ply- ing for hire without a
licence to do so, inval- idating his insurance. Another man had his vehicle seized and impounded for operat- ing an unlicensed vehicle and having no operator’s licence. These drivers will be prosecuted. And a Liv- erpool hackney driver was “mystery- shopped” inflating
fares to members of the public. He will be summonsed for this alleged offence. In a separate incident a licensing officer found a hackney cab was not licensed, taxed or insured. It was seized by the police’s Road- safe South team. Further investigations are taking place.
CLAMPDOWN ON THURROCK TAXIS
A taxi firm was ordered to fix three vehicles after a routine inspection by the council’s licensing officers and VOSA. Faults with seat belts and a case of a defec- tive warning light on a braking system were found on the cabs of the Thurrock firm. Thurrock Council reg- ularly does un-
announced visits to check that taxis in the borough are roadwor- thy.
Cabinet member for public safety Ben Maney told the Essex Enquirer: “Passenger safety is a high priori- ty and we work hard to make sure taxis in the borough are up to standard.
“In this case we found
faults on the vehic- cles and made sure they were corrected as soon as possible. “The licensing team will be carrying out similar checks on other taxi firms in the next few weeks.” The taxi firm has cor- rected the faults and the vehicles have suc- cessfully passed an MoT test.
Vehicles were stopped at the roadside in Harehills, Leeds as part of a crackdown involving nine separate agencies. These included the Neigh- bourhood Policing Team, Leeds City Council Environmental Action Team and War- dens, Taxi Licensing, VOSA, Customs and
Excise, DVLA Benefits Agency, Immigration Service, Her Majesty’s Court Service and War- rant Officers. A drugs dog was also used to search vehicles. Inspector Nik Adams, who leads the Gipton and Harehills NPT, told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “We were check- ing any criminal links
that cars may have through ANPR (auto- matic number plate recognition) technolo- gy and whether they were insured and road legal. Any cars found without insurance were seized and face the possibility of being crushed. Anyone not legally entitled to drive was arrested.”
SLOUGH TYRES WERE BALD AS SLICKS
A spot check on taxis in Eton High Street revealed a frightening tale of bald tyres and blatant speeding. PC Steve Parker and Royal Borough taxi enforcement officer Mike Johnson ‘staked out’ the town’s historic High Street on a recent Friday night. Of all the vehicles stopped and checked, five immedi-
ately had their licences suspended - four for having bald tyres and one for insurance problems.
Three of the suspend- ed drivers were from Slough, one from Windsor and one from High Wycombe. PC Parker said virtual- ly all the remainder had been ignoring the 20mph speed limit. He
told the Slough and Bucks Express: “Some of the tyres we saw were so bald they looked like slicks.” Cllr Peter Lawless said: “It is painfully obvious. Drivers go faster than they should because they want to maximise the number of fares they take to increase revenue. But it is still unacceptable.”
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OCTOBER 2009 PHTM PAGE 31 TAXI
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