Angus taxi drivers have been promised an early review in a testing row which is continuing to rumble on in parts of the county.
Operators in the district remain angry that they are having to travel to Dundee to have taxis tested after the withdrawal of the facility at Forfar police HQ, and council officials have also pledged to look into a claim that Angus cabbies are being forced to pay almost three times as much for the test as their Dundee counterparts.
The long-running row reared its head at the latest meeting of the authority’s civic licensing committee when operators’ spokesman Neil Gibson said the trek to Dundee was still costing time and money.
“It’s also channelling revenue streams out of Angus and we don’t believe that’s the objective this committee should be aiming for.”
He indicated Dundee taxis are charged just £11 for the test, against £29 for Angus cars, a matter which officials said would be investigated.
Mr Gibson also called for the possibility of the testing contract going out to tender to be looked at, but was told it was unlikely a stipulation restricting that to only Angus applicants could be applied.
Angus Council is planning to develop a testing facility as part of a multi- million-pound transformation of the former recycling facility at Peasiehill in Arbroath, but authority legal chief Sheonagh Hunter said that prospect remained some way off.
“It is the people of Montrose that are most vociferous about the move to Dundee. For the people of Arbroath, going to Dundee is possibly more advantageous than going to Forfar,” added the official.
“We haven’t had any complaints about the service that is offered, but I will raise the issue of the (cost of) the plates because that does seem inappropriate.”
Councillor Alex King said: “I think we are where we are with this situation and it doesn’t seem that there is an opportunity in the very short term to go out to any tendering.
“But we have the opportunity to keep it with a public body at a very good site in Arbroath.”
A review in the first half of 2016 will be brought to the committee and Councillor Paul Valentine asked for a tendering option to be included in that.