Taxis safety inspection drive

A joint operation to inspect taxi and private hire vehicles to ensure the safety of the travelling public has taken place in Scarborough.

Scarborough Borough Council’s licensing team joined forces with North Yorkshire Police and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to undertake the checks.

The vehicle inspectors primarily looked for defects such as steering systems, brakes, faulty headlights, problems with indicators, illegal tyres and worn handbrakes.

The licensing team also checked that licensed drivers were fully compliant with the council’s taxi and private hire policy, and government legislation.

Two thirds of the vehicles inspected were either given a clean bill of health or a simple advisory warning.

Three vehicles received a delayed prohibition notice, which is a warning about issues that could cause the vehicle to fail an MoT test.

Cllr Michelle Donohue Moncrieff, Scarborough Borough Council cabinet member for environment and sustainability, said: “These inspections are a very important part of our commitment to the safety of the travelling public so it is positive news that the majority of vehicles inspected were fine or received simple advisories.”

Traffic Constable Mark Patterson said it was good to see only a small number of vehicles had safety issues.

He said: “At the same time, the inspection acted as a reminder to those in the taxi and private hire trade that they should not become complacent with vehicle safety.”