Taxis in north-east Fife came under fire as the most dangerous in the region when operators were hauled up before councillors to explain why their vehicles had failed safety checks.
Serious concerns were raised about public safety with one case involving a minibus that has a contract with Fife Council to transport schoolchildren after defects were found on vehicles.
North-east Fife had the highest percentage of test failures and those with faulty vehicles were threatened with suspension of their taxi licenses at a special meeting of the regulation and licensing committee.
Chairing the meeting, Councillor Bob Young said there was “great concern” about the area’s taxis, which had a fail rate of 11% compared with the Levenmouth area, which was 1%, and west Fife, which was 6%. Police roadside checks found more defective vehicles on the roads on Tuesday.
Mr Young told the committee: “We went out with the police in St Andrews, Cupar and Leuchars and, once again, we caught taxis running with bald tyres, ripped tyres, but (the drivers) still thought they would run.”
He also described the dress code of drivers in St Andrews as being more suitable for doing gardening.
A total of 17 east Fife operators were pulled up for mechanical faults, with some of the most serious including brakes, steering, tyres and broken exhausts, while there were only four from west Fife.
Most were given a warning and will face another a random test to make sure repairs have been carried out, though one St Andrews operator had his license suspended for a month because of suspension problems which also caused the vehicle to fail last year.
The owner of a minibus used by pupils was found with a fault in the load sensing valve that could have affected braking distances when fully loaded, as well as a broken indicator.
One driver had vehicles fail every year for the last three years, while another driver admitted he may have caused the mileage in his speedometer to fail by knocking something loose when he “shoogled the dashboard” in an attempt to fix another problem.
Councillor David MacDiarmid said: “In three parts of Fife, the percentages are over 90% but in the north-east pass rates are shockingly below that.
“We are very serious about the failures, especially in north-east Fife. We have passengers in Fife, including schoolchildren, being driven about and we need to make sure we get the pass rate up.
“I hate to see the north-east failing year after year.”
Last year the failure rate was even worse, with 13% of vehicles failing the council’s taxi safety test.
Councillor Andrew Rodgers suggested there may be an issue with MoT testers in the area, as many taxi operators claimed not to have been made aware of problems after taking their vehicles to the garage.
Another noticeable difference between east and west Fife was the quality of daily and weekly maintenance checks recorded.
The council sent best practice information and sample maintenance sheets out to all operators in the area but councillors said it was worrying not one of the people brought before the committee showed any evidence of having ever used them.
One taxi company owner in west Fife was even praised by councillors, who took no further action after he impressed them with his detailed maintenance records and assurances about public safety.