Scarborough

Taxi bosses have moaned about the timing of legal council safety checks

On a busy Saturday night in Scarborough, you wouldn’t expect too much trouble flagging down a taxi.

Hundreds of drivers are roaming the roads as they compete for fares, in a trade that many say is becoming harder and harder to make ends meet.

And it’s this ongoing struggle that has riled taxi firm bosses, after the council took the “truly stupid” step of hauling vehicles off the road during the heart of Saturday night.

In total, safety checks were carried out on 26 vehicles between 8pm and 10pm on Saturday February 15, with the councillor at the helm of the snap inspections branding the operation a success – and vowing to have more in future.

However, with thousands of revellers braving stormy conditions for a night on the tiles, as well as an influx of visitors for the annual Coastival festival, a taxi boss said they are “baffled” at the timing of the legal checks.

“Here is a Saturday, already the busiest night of the week, but with an extra 4,000 people in town for Coastival, and they decide to take my drivers off the road – I was lost for words,” said the business owner, who has asked not to be named.

“Saturday is really the only night of the week drivers have a chance of making decent money.

“There really is just no logic in it.”

But the council claims there is, and that it needs to ensure that vehicles are not only fit for the road, but that they are also following the law.

The authority points to the results of the inspections, which found a number of drivers to be in breach of their licenses by failing to display or wear any ID, with the council admitting it is looking at taking further action against the culprits.

“I am pleased with the way the operation has been conducted,” said Cllr Brian Watson, Scarborough Borough Council Licensing Committee Chairman.

“We take the safety of the travelling public very seriously and it is important that licensed drivers adhere to the law with regard to vehicle maintenance, tax and insurance to ensure the safety of all road users.”

And he added: “We shall be organising more snap inspections in the near future and we will be taking firm action where vehicles are found not to be fully roadworthy.”

Overall, the council says that approximately two thirds of the vehicles checked out at the Dean Road council depot were given a clean bill of health or a simple advisory notice.

But 11 drivers were told that their vehicle may fail its next MOT, mainly for dodgy lights – although two cars were found to have illegal tires.

Scarborough Council says the results of the Saturday night inspection compare “favourably” to previous spot checks.

And Una Faithfull, Scarborough Borough Council’s Licensing Manager, said weekend checks had been carried out before, adding: “The timing of inspections largely relates to the availability of all the different agencies that have to be involved and therefore the time slots we can work to are limited.

“The detailed inspections were carried out as quickly as possible to allow drivers to return to work and all cars were inspected well before 10pm, as we appreciate after that time is usually the busiest for drivers.”

The operation was carried out by the council, with involvement from other bodies such as North Yorkshire Police.

Sgt Peter Wood, North Yorkshire Police Roads Policing Group, added: “The results of the operation show the value of partnership working to increase the safety of road users, in this particular instance ensuring that the taxi and private hire vehicles operating in the Scarborough area are safe and compliant with regulations.

“This has the benefit of increasing the professional standing of the 
vehicles, operators and drivers, and making them as safe as possible for their customers.

“It is pleasing to see that only a small number of vehicles had any safety issues, however it is a reminder for all concerned that they should not become complacent with vehicle safety, and to ensure that regular safety checks are carried out and any defects remedied straight away.”
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Kendal

A TAXI driver has been sent to prison for a year and banned from driving for 18 months for deliberately reversing a minibus into a woman’s car after she parked in a turning bay outside Kendal’s main post office.

Carlisle Crown Court heard that 37-year-old Robert Atkinson was angry because Mrs Lee Bell was stopping him getting his minibus out of the car park after she dropped off her grown-up daughter behind the Stricklandgate Centre on July 23 last year.

He tried to do an “impatient” three-point turn, prosecutor Becky McGregor told the court, but when he failed he deliberately threw the minibus into reverse and rammed into the front of Mrs Bell’s car, causing £400 damage.

All the time, Ms McGregor said, Atkinson was shouting four-letter insults at Mrs Bell.

And afterwards, when she got out of her car to remonstrate with him, he blamed her for not moving her car by using foul and abusive language.

When she told him she was going to call the police, the court heard, he replied “I’d have no problem with punching you in the face” before driving off.

He was arrested soon afterwards at K Cars taxis, where he worked.

He admitted to the police that he had been “a little bit aggressive” but said he was just “agitated” because he wanted to get the minibus out so he could do his job.

Ms McGregor said that Mr Neil Barry, who witnessed the incident, later told the police: “He was using every swear word in the book.”

The court heard that Mrs Berry was so upset by what happened that she had to give up her job as a hotel manager.

She was now “fearful” and suffered panic attacks and was no longer as outgoing as she used to be, Ms McGregor said.

Atkinson - who used to live in Empson Road, Kendal, but has since moved to Ely in Cambridgeshire –pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving.

In mitigation his barrister Chris Evans said the incident was the culmination of “two or three very difficult years”, which had included the collapse of his marriage.

“He had had a particularly stressful day,” he said.

He said he now accepted he had over-reacted “to a set of circumstances with which he should just have been patient”, he said.

Judge Paul Batty QC told Atkinson his behaviour had been “appalling and disgraceful”.


He said: “The courts simply will not tolerate this aggressive bullying of vulnerable women. It was quite outrageous conduct.”
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Croyden

STAFF who lost their jobs when a coach firm serving hundreds of special needs children went out of business are considering legal action.

Ruskin Private Hire ceased trading last Friday (February 21) after a deal to save the company failed to materialise.

Its staff were told they had lost their jobs that afternoon and were advised to contact the firms drafted in by the council to cover the routes when schools returned from half term this week.

Some drivers and guides were transferred across without issue but others were told there were only part-time positions available.

Unions Unite and GMB claim the council has attempted to shed its legal responsibility for staff who were originally local authority employees before the service was outsourced in 2010.

Unite represents at least ten staff in dispute with one of 12 companies called in by Croydon Council when it became clear that Ruskin Private Hire, which employed around 300 people, would have to cease trading.

The union believes regulations, which protect employees when they transfer to another business, known as TUPE, should apply.

Kevin Simmons, branch secretary, said: "The council had a responsibility to bring the contract back in-house and then re-tender because that would have protected the staff who have worked in these roles for thirty years. At the very least it should have been making it clear to the replacement companies that TUPE should apply.

"The firms in question are current contractors so staff should have transferred on Monday with their terms and conditions intact. Instead they were told they might have a job, it might be part-time and TUPE won't apply.

"They are being treated abysmally and the council can rest assured we will do whatever it takes to support them."

Mick Simpkin, GMB's regional organiser for Croydon, said: "The legal advice we have been given is that TUPE applies. The council is demonstrating they are want to relinquish all their obligations to look after these workers.

"When it became clear Ruskin was in difficulty, the council should have sat down and consulted with the trade unions as to what the possibilities would be."

The council said it did not have the resources to take on a contract of that nature at short notice.

A spokesman added: "We had ample contingency plans in place to make use of the spare capacity available with our existing suppliers and this was the most sensible approach when it became clear no rescue package could be put together by administrators. TUPE considerations are the direct responsibility of the employer and the administrators."

The council said it was supporting former Ruskin staff, who have been told they will only receive one week's pay for the last month's work, by directing them to new suppliers and providing contacts for Jobcentre Plus

Several spoke to the Advertiser after being advised to contact replacement supplier Impact Group. A driver for 26 years said: "I received a call from the administrator at 4.30pm last Friday. He said: 'Sorry to say this but you haven't got a job'.

"He said that I would get a week's pay and could send forms off to apply for the other three weeks and redundancy. Then I was told to call Impact and ask for my jobs, basically."

A driver for 24 years said: "A few of us went to see Impact and were offered half the money we were getting and only part-time work.

"We're gutted but we're going to have to accept it because we have mortgages to pay. To think of all the service we've put in and now we're being shat on from a great height."

Ruskin Private Hire operated around a third of the school run and taxi routes for special needs children in Croydon.

Parents were left guessing for much of last week as to whether their children would be picked up by their regular guides and drivers after the company went into administration on February 14.

They were informed of the new arrangements late on Friday but the transition was less than smooth come Monday.

A number of coaches were late and several parents kept their children off school due to the stress caused by a change in routine.

The council said 100 per cent of the service was covered by Tuesday when the majority of pupils returned to school.

Luca Rendle, three, was so distressed by the prospect of being taken to school by a different guide and driver on Monday that he tore off his clothes.

By the time the replacement minibus arrived an hour late he was so unsettled that his parents, Andrew and Caroline, decided he should not go to the child development unit he attends at Winterbourne Nursery and Infants School in Thornton Heath.

“Luca was ready to go to school but, after waiting for an hour, he was very distressed and in the end we didn’t send him,” said Mr Rendle, from Woodside.

“He was very upset and when he gets like that he starts to strip his clothes off.

“Even if our regular guide was late, Luca would have calmed down when he saw him.

“I spoke to a number of other parents and they didn’t send their children because they were distressed. It’s not easy for parents who haven’t experienced autism to comprehend, but routine is vitally important.”

Lee Lewis’s four-year-old son Logan was also taken to Winterbourne by Ruskin Private Hire with his guide John.

Mr Lewis Logan kept his son at home on Monday because he was concerned how he would react to being looked after by new people.

“Something that’s so easy for me and you to get over is like the world is ending for an autistic child,” he said.

“He’s got to cope with the fact that the person who knocks on his door in the morning is not going to be John.

“I was worried about how he would react. The first thing he does when he comes out of the house is he says a massive ‘hello’ to John, then he would go to the bus and, at the top of his voice, he would say the same to the driver, Hassan. That was his routine.

“Now he has to cope with that fact that it’s not going to be ‘hello John’ or Hassan.

“It wasn’t a case of him not wanting to go to school, but he hasn’t come to terms with the fact that it’s his usual routine.”


The routes Ruskin Private Hire provided for Croydon Council