Taxi drivers in north-east Fife have moved to defend the safety of their vehicles by claiming more rigorous examinations are behind the area’s poor pass records.
The area was branded the worst in Fife for public safety after defects were found on 11% of taxis, compared with 1% in Levenmouth area and 6% in west Fife.
Last week operators who failed the safety checks were hauled before Fife Council’s regulation and licencing committee and threatened with losing their licences, although most were made subject to one random safety check.
Now, Patricia Robertson, whose husband David had his licence suspended for one month due to suspension problems, has hit out at the committee, describing it as a “kangaroo court” that left taxi drivers “living in fear” of losing their licences.
Michael Vansittart, who also failed the test but avoided suspension, said the area’s lower pass rate could be explained by the test being more rigorous in north-east Fife.
He said: “If that was the case, the conclusion to be drawn would be that the taxis operating in north-east Fife after passing the test would be less dangerous than those in the other areas.”
But councillor Bob Young, the chairman of the committee, said this was “just not true”.
“Tests are carried out to identical standards and are looking for the same criteria to pass. If people don’t look after their taxis and keep them up to a good standard then it is quite right they will lose their taxi licence.
“At the end of the day, the system is there to protect the public.”
Gillian Love, committee administrator for Fife Council, said the annual safety checks are based on a normal MoT with a few taxi-specific checks on roof signs, metres and paintwork.
“Following a disappointing set of results from the annual safety inspection tests, we organised a special meeting of the regulation and licensing committee to meet the operators from the area whose vehicles had failed the test.
“The day before this meeting a number of spot checks were carried out by a council mechanic and Fife Constabulary’s safer transport liaison officer and, again, some of the results were very disappointing; for example, highlighting issues with tyres which would not pass an MoT.”