Highland Council’s licensing committee is concerned that some taxi and private hire car operators are failing to maintain their vehicles in a safe condition.
The concern follows three hearings at each of the last two committee meetings, on October 14 and November 11, following reports from the local authority’s trading standards unit.
The reports highlight unacceptable or non-existent vehicle maintenance regimes which resulted in vehicles being submitted for inspection with severe safety defects.
The issue has been identified in recent months through trading standards’ penalty points system, where compliance with standards set by the council, which are higher than a normal MOT, is routinely monitored.
When a person attracts 20 points or more they are reported to the licensing committee. Operators and drivers are automatically notified by trading standards when they hit 10 points.
Punishments range from the operator having to submit their vehicle for monthly inspections, to suspending or revoking the licence.
Committee chairwoman, Councillor Maxine Smith, said: “Poor vehicle maintenance can put the public at risk and is not acceptable. Although vehicles have been made safe after the defects were found, it alarms me that just prior to this the vehicle most probably has been carrying a member of the public who expects the vehicle to be safe. Operators have a duty to keep vehicles safe at all times and not just fix what is found wrong when inspected.
“What is also becoming apparent is that operators assume that every garage knows the council’s inspection standards and not all of them do, so it is crucial that the operator knows that the garage is checking their vehicle in line with the standards required by the council, which are higher than just a normal MOT. We must protect the public at all costs, as this is our duty of care when issuing a taxi operator’s licence.”
Gordon Robb, trading standards manager, said: “There appears to be a growing trend here and we have increased our enforcement activity. We will be writing to all licence holders to remind them of their responsibilities and outline, again, the system we have in place to identify those falling below an acceptable standard.”