London Cabs go to Perth.

Black cabs will be picking up fares in Australia after Coventry-based London Taxi Company secured a deal to export a fleet of the iconic vehicles to Perth.

A sample of 98 white used factory demonstrator “hot-climate” TX4 models will be tested during a trial to discover if modifications are needed prior to the full roll-out next year of a further 200 new cabs.

The deal is worth several millions of pounds to the manufacturer, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Geely Holding Group.

The contract will also involve driver training and familiarisation with the vehicles.

London Taxi Company international sales director, Matthew Cheyne said: “This is an exciting new market for us and it’s just the beginning. We will continue to work closely with the authorities in Perth to deliver the London Taxi, and the London Taxi Service successfully into Australia.”

The latest deal follows a recent run  of export sales orders for the firm.

Mr Cheyne added: “Sales have never been so good. We’re currently manufacturing vehicles for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. We are also expecting orders from Azerbaijan which already has 1,000 TX4s in-situ.”

Further orders are expected from the Australian state of Victoria.

Western Australian Government Transport Minister Troy Buswell said the trial was part of his Taxi Action Plan which aimed to improve the security, standards and availability of Perth taxis. 

It's a pity they are not good enough, to be sold here. Unlike the Aussies, we expect better.
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Newport

A Newport taxi company says a “spectacular” rise in fraudulent whiplash claims could put local taxi firms out of business and is putting the whole industry at risk.

Terry Spooner, the managing director of Ultimate Taxis, said the insurance for his 20 vehicles had rocketed from £36,000 to £57,000 in the last 12 months.

Mr Spooner said there had been six claims made against his company in the last year. Four of those were for whiplash – and Mr Spooner believes three of them are “suspicious”.The cases are still being disputed.

Mr Spooner said the rise in claims was “killing the industry” as well as hiking up insurance costs for all drivers.

“In the last 12 months we’ve noticed a spectacular increase in the public putting in for whiplash claims under very suspicious circumstances,” he said.

“We’ve had incidents where a driver has touched the back of someone’s car at a very low speed and they’ve put in for whiplash.

“When your renewal comes up claims like that, even if they haven’t been paid out, look very bad on your history.

“Anybody sees a business vehicle as a licence to print money.

“The damage it is doing to the private hire business is unbelievable.

“It is killing our industry. Now there are not many insurers who want to be in the taxi insurance market because of this no-win-no-fee scenario.

“The public don’t realise that this is not only affecting our industry but insurance in general.”

The Insurance Fraud Bureau estimates that fraudulent insurance claims total £2.1 billion a year adding on average £50 to individual policyholders.

Mr Spooner said that with 20 vehicles running around Newport and the surrounding areas throughout the day and night, minor bumps and prangs were “inevitable”.

Mr Spooner added: “It could put a business out of business because there are insurers who refuse to quote.

“People don’t realise the damage they are doing. It could send drivers out of work. It puts a hell of a strain on any business and it shouldn’t be there. “

Mr Spooner said some taxi firms are now asking drivers to buy their own vehicles and sort out their own insurance.

“We want to avoid that as much as possible but we might get to a situation where we’ve got no choice,” he said.

“The way things are going we might have to pass that burden onto the drivers.”

Mr Spooner said Ultimate Taxis was installing telematics in its vehicles to monitor the speed of drivers and was considering putting in cameras to record footage from the front and back of the cabs.

And Mr Spooner warned: “If anyone puts a claim in which is suspicious we’ll report it to the Insurance Fraud Bureau.”