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An undercover operation by safety officers has resulted in seven private hire cars being taken off the road.

The action by Stoke licensing officers, police and the Vehicle Operators Services Agency showed serious defects in almost half of the vehicles checked.

Seven out of the 18 private hire cars stopped were suspended because of faults including defective tyres, brakes, exhausts and steering.

They had been taken off the road until they could be repaired and retested.

Other defects found included missing information signs, first aid kits and fire extinguishers, which licensed vehicles should carry.

Two drivers also face prosecution for not wearing a driver's badge to show the public they are licensed and trustworthy.

Coun Joy Garner, Chair of the council's Licensing & Consumer Protection Committee, said; "These operations are critical to ensure driver and passenger safety.

"Because of the mileage these cars do, compared to family cars, more frequent maintenance is needed to keep the vehicles safe and roadworthy. "Defects like worn tyres and faulty lights are easy to spot and fix, but pose a significant safety risk."

This issue is an ongoing result of this and previous government’s policies of market forces within our industry, by licensing unlimited numbers of cars within both the H/C and P/H industries.

These policies lead to low standards of vehicles due to low income revenue due to the high number of vehicles trying to derive an income from the industry.

We the GMB PDB believe in an industry with limitation of vehicle licences set at the correct number for the number of jobs within a licensing authority which would enable drivers to earn enough income to maintain their vehicles to a high standard and earn an average living wage.

A further problem caused by market forces policies are the number of hours drivers have to work, sadly we saw a case of a Sheffield driver involved in a fatal RTA after working 14 hours

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Regards
BB

fully agree with the above post and selected a sentence which i have quoted from it.

how can drivers make ends meet when their waiting for hours on a rank to get 1 job which pays maybe a tenner. Private Hire drivers sat waiting for hours to get a similiar fare if their lucky.

how can anyone get by on £60 a day when they have fuel, rent, and maintenance costs to take out of it. if they own the car they will have monthly payments on the vehicle, Insurance etc

with the recession every man and his dog seems to think why not become a taxi driver, this dilutes an already over staffed industry which in turn reduces take home pay.

I dont agree with scrimping on safety such as tyres etc but I can understand why some do.

catch 22 really for some drivers............. cant afford to buy tyres unless their out working, but to go out working their putting peoples safety at risk