Newsroom Archive

The vehicle was stopped during roadside spot checks last Saturday night led by Telford & Wrekin Council, joined by West Mercia Police, Shropshire Council and City of Wolverhampton Council. 

During the operation, drivers of private hire vehicles and Hackney Carriages (taxis) were stopped by police. The vehicles were then inspected by officers from the local authority which licensed the driver.

A total of eighteen vehicles were stopped and checked. Six of them (three private hire vehicles and three Hackney Carriages) were licensed by Telford & Wrekin Council. One, a private hire vehicle, had a bald tyre, one of its brake lights was not working, one of its headlights pointed upwards and it was missing a fire extinguisher. Telford & Wrekin Council issued the driver with a ‘suspension notice’ which will only be lifted when all the issues have been addressed and the vehicle has passed a test at the Council’s testing station.

The same driver was fined £200 and given three penalty points on his driving licence for the bald tyre by West Mercia Police.

A further five ‘breach of condition notices’ were issued by Telford & Wrekin Council’s licensing officers to drivers whose vehicles were dirty, missing signs, spare bulbs and first aid kit.

Eleven private hire vehicles licensed by Shropshire Council and one private hire vehicle licensed by Wolverhampton City Council were checked. Any issues arising from the inspections were dealt with by their respective licensing authority.

Richard Overton, Telford & Wrekin Council’s Cabinet Member for Enforcement said: “This was an important exercise to ensure the safety of our public. One of the private hire vehicles checked by our officers would have failed an MOT. We were not prepared to let its driver continue carrying passengers, potentially endangering their safety, until the car was back in a roadworthy and legal state.”