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Tackling taxi problems in Pendle
Published: Thursday, 19th January 2017
Pendle Council continues to take a tough line to tackle taxi problems, with more spot checks and a prosecution.
Taxi driver Asim Israr was fined £225 at Burnley Magistrates' Court for driving a taxi for Superline without a private hire driver’s licence.
“We will vigorously pursue people who drive unlicensed as they make the taxi industry unsafe,” warned Councillor David Clegg who chairs the Taxi Licensing Committee.
On 9th January another unannounced spot check took place.
Twenty two taxis from 16 private hire companies and four hackney carriage owners in Pendle were checked with a 54% failure rate.
The spot checks are carried out by the Government’s Vehicle Operator Services Agency to make sure taxis are roadworthy and safe.
Councillor Clegg said:
“The latest spot check shows that less vehicles are failing, a better percentage than the alarming 81% failure rate we had last time!”
But he stressed: “Public safety in Pendle is paramount and the number of cars failing spot checks is still unacceptable.
“We acknowledge the improvement but there is still work to do,” he said.
Councillor Iqbal, Leader of Pendle Council added:
“Whilst there are many Pendle taxi companies who maintain their vehicles to a good standard, there are several operators letting us down.
“As a council we have a zero tolerance attitude to operators whose cars are unsafe.
“We have set up a cross party working group to help us tackle this problem,” he said.
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