By Claire Warrender

KIRKCALDY TAXI drivers have refused to back a council initiative urging them to buckle up in their cabs.

While members of the West Fife Taxi Owners Association are supporting the call for drivers to wear seatbelts, their Kirkcaldy counterparts fear such a move would compromise their safety.

Although taxi drivers are exempt from wearing seatbelts when they are carrying passengers and seeking hire, Fife Council said last week they would like to see it happening as good practice.

Councillor Gerry McMullan, chairman of the regulation and licensing committee, said, “Not only does wearing seatbelts set the right example for passengers, but if an accident happened it would keep you safe and, if you’re still in control of the car, then your passengers will be safer too.”

Mr McMullan has described the Kirkcaldy association’s decision as disappointing and has offered to meet them for discussions.

However, Arthur Wyllie, secretary of Kirkcaldy Taxi Owners Association, accused the local authority of having its priorities all wrong.

“They want us to wear seatbelts for our safety but the reason we don’t wear them is for our safety,” he said.

“It’s not against the law for us not to wear them as it’s a safety issue for drivers. Someone could strangle us from behind. If we’re assaulted we need to be able to get out the cab quickly.”

Mr Wyllie said there was no compensation for drivers whose taxis were damaged by the public and suggested a scheme, similar to Pub Watch, whereby people who misbehaved were named and shamed and barred from taxis in the future.

Kirkcaldy taxi driver Kim Skinner was in full agreement and said she had experienced a number of incidents while in her cab.

The most recent, she said was at 3am on Friday when she stopped to pick up a hire in Charlotte Street, Kirkcaldy.

“There was no sign of the taxi marshalls but there were about 30 people in the street waiting for taxis,” she said.

“I’d picked up my hire and was about to drive away when a girl came out of the line saying she was sick waiting for a taxi and was freezing.

“She came up and started kicking a hole in the back door of my taxi. I had to get out or the car would have been really damaged.

“I get nothing out of it and have to foot the bill.”

She added, “That’s not the first time something like that has happened. People seem to be allowed to do what they want and we get no respect, yet all the council can go on about is wearing seatbelts. It’s a joke and I’ll certainly not be wearing one.”

Mr McMullan said, “This is an unfortunate decision by Kirkcaldy Taxi Owners Association but it’s not surprising.

“However, if they feel so strongly about it that’s entirely up to them. The law is on their side.”

He pointed out that a taxi driver was killed in an accident near Cupar in 2006, after his car left the road and overturned.

A subsequent fatal accident inquiry heard Malcolm Dowds from Leven might have survived if he had been wearing his seatbelt, and Sheriff George Evans sug-gested the law could be changed so taxi drivers would have to wear their belts on rural roads at night.

Mr McMullan added, “Given the fact a taxi driver died with no passengers and no seatbelt, where is the common sense of not asking their drivers to perhaps buckle-up on a return journey when they have dropped people off?”