IN THE NEWS
LACK OF TAXI TESTING CENTRE IN BERWICK MAKES NORTHUMBERLAND “UNEQUAL”
Northumberland County Council (NCC) is facing calls to address a long-standing complaint among cabbies in the north of the county. Under current rules, testing and inspection of HCs and PHVs must be completed by one of three NCC MoT testing stations. This has been the case since 2016, with council officers unsatisfied with the quality of testing carried out at some garages. It means that cabbies in Berwick have to travel at least 30 miles south in order to reach a council testing centre. But due to capacity issues across the county, drivers some- times have to drive to the other test centres in Stakeford - 54m away or even Hexham - 80m away. Speaking at a meeting of the council’s licensing and regulatory
committee on 23 August, Cllr Catherine Seymour, (Berwick North ward), led the call for a testing centre in her town. She said: “We have been asking for a long time if we can have a testing station at the top of England. Some have to drive a long way. Can it be looked at as a high priority?” Cllr Alan Sharp said it had been a problem for the last 15 years he has served on the committee. Cllr Sharp said: “There are issues in the north which we need to address. I’m of the opinion that we should try to work with the garages as well as we can to ensure the continuation of taxi businesses in Northumberland. “There is a case at the moment where somebody asked for an MoT test a week ago and hasn’t heard
back. Someone else has had their test expire so they haven’t got a running vehicle. “We need to look into this matter further to see if there is a garage we can use in Berwick.” Cllr Alex Wallace agreed, adding: “I absolutely support that. One of the aims of this council is to tackle inequalities - it can’t be equal if somebody in Berwick has to travel to Alnwick or Stakeford. “It is not equal, it is unequal.” Members were discussing a report which sought to approve six as-yet unidentified garages - two in the west, two in the north and two in the south east of the county - to carry out tests where the current garages cannot fulfil demand. The committee approved the report’s recommendations unanimously.
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SEPTEMBER 2023 PHTM
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