380 fake taxis caught, almost half in Dublin

AN alarming 387 illegal taxi, hackney, and limo drivers have been uncovered over the past three years by the National Transport Authority.

And the chances of ending up in a fake cab are highest in Dublin where almost half of them, 184, were picking up and charging unsuspecting customers.

Worryingly, the numbers have grown over the three years, from 110 in 2016 to 155 last year; and this despite the fact that the spokesman for the enforcement body, Dermot O’Gara, revealed that its 24 ‘authorised persons’ carried out 17,610 checks last year alone.

Mr O’Gara was also concerned that this is not the full picture because the list of drivers did not include any cases taken by gardaí, who also have responsibility for prosecuting these types of cases.

The figures also show that as many as 68% of the candidates applying to become taxi drivers failed their test in the first nine months of last year.

Failure rates were highest in Kildare, at 81%, Louth, 80%, and Carlow, 80%. However, it was a different story in Kerry where 63% of prospective drivers passed. Of the counties where illegal taxis and drivers were uncovered, Donegal was the biggest surprise, given its population, with 44 drivers found operating illegally in the three-year period. It was the only county outside Dublin in double digits over the past two years.

However, Roscommon, Longford, Leitrim, Carlow, and Clare had just a single prosecution since 2016. While drivers were caught for various offences including having no driving licence, no vehicle licence, allowing an unlicensed driver to operate or allowing an unlicensed car to be used, 97 cases were discovered where a taxi, hackney or limo driver didn’t have a driving or vehicle licence.

The figures also show a glut of cases in January each year, pointing to a large rise in illegal taxi and hackney activity on the roads during the Christmas season. The NTA said that four cases of cheating during tests for public service licences had been discovered over the past three years.

However, there were no instances of personation, where a prospective driver would pretend to be somebody else, because photographs of candidates were taken at the test centre which were later matched against the licence applications.

Mr O’Gara said: ‘Garda activity would need to be taken into account for an overall picture of all enforcement activity across the country.’

He explained that some Garda divisions policed public service vehicles by themselves and did not request the assistance of the NTA.

‘In those areas, NTA figures would be lower, but that does not mean that little or no activity takes place,’ he said.

Certain areas have generated more reports of bogus operators from legitimate rivals, while

A glut of cases came after the Christmas period

Private hire vehicles advertised in pubs

enforcement is only carried out when ‘good quality’ information is available and there is a likelihood of prosecution.

Of the 387 cases, the majority involved individuals operating without either a public service driver or vehicle licence. Compliance manager Eddie Fullerton said: ‘These are, most often, expired licences where the individual has held a licence previously.

‘Where the prosecution is for an absence of both licences, it is these that are vehicles and drivers that are operating completely outside of the licensing “regime”.’

He said these were mostly ‘private hire vehicles’ advertised in pubs and shops, or via websites and social media pages.