Police in Sheffield have hailed the latest taxi licensing operation a big success, after 18 vehicles received prohibition notices. The two-day operation ran on the evenings of Friday 8 June and Saturday 9 June 2007.
The operation was conducted by officers from Road Policing Group in partnership with officers from:
Sheffield Taxi Licensing
North East Derbyshire Taxi Licensing
Vehicle Operating Standards Agency (VOSA)
HM Revenue and Customs
Her Majesties Court Services
The two-day operation was aimed at unlicensed and potentially illegal drivers of Hackney Carriages and Private Hire vehicles from operating within Sheffield. The operation also tackled vehicles that had mechanical faults and should not be operating.
PC John Scruby from South Yorkshire Police explained "The operation falls within the police priorities of ensuring public safety. We work closely with Sheffield Taxi Licensing and it has recently been highlighted that out of town registered private hire vehicles are travelling in to Sheffield and illegally plying their trade."
The results for the operation are as follows:
40 Vehicles were checked by VOSA and taxi licensing and 18 prohibition notices were issued including fixed penalty tickets for defective tyres. The majority of defects related to lights, tyres and seatbelts.
4 mini buses were checked and all were found not to be using tachographs, which is a requirement of the use of the vehicle in these circumstances. 1 mini bus was also found to be operating without an operator's license.
Revnue and Customs conducted 27 fuel checks to ensure that vehicles were not running on red diesel.
A check by HM Court service revealed that there were no outstanding warrants for any of the drivers who were stopped.
Although the number of vehicles prohibited appears to be a high percentage of all vehicles examined it should be noted that the police were actively stopping vehicles that had notable defects.
PC Andy House who undertook the Operation stressed, "The vast majority of taxi drivers within Sheffield operate legally and drive vehicles that are well maintained. However there are a few drivers who flout the legislation, and one of our aims has been to identify these vehicles, and where necessary to remove them from the road."
Some of the taxis that were stopped had minor defects, which could be rectified quickly. Unfortunately some of the vehicles were found to have more extensive faults such as a Hackney Carriage with a substantial fuel leak and a private hire vehicle operating with two defective heavily worn tyres, that it places were down to the cords. Both of these vehicles were immediately stopped from operating further and had their licenses removed.
PC Scruby praised the taxi drivers for their support and co-operation. "Obviously Friday and Saturday nights are busy times for taxi drivers and their co-operation has been greatly appreciated. We have tried to run this operation in a way that has caused the minimum of inconvenience and disruption to passengers and the lawful taxi drivers. Our objective was to simply stop the unlawful drivers and potentially unsafe vehicles from taking passengers for a ride."
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