REARVIEW:If taxi drivers want to regain the respect of their customers they need to root out the bad eggs themselves
IT USED TO be an urban myth. Leave a euro note of large denomination in the ashtray of your banger and send it through NCT, safe in the knowledge you’d pass regardless.
On Monday night we saw with our own eyes the reality of corruption by certain individuals responsible for ensuring taxis are safe for transporting members of the public when RTÉ's Prime Time Investigatesshowed two defective vehicles receiving a clean bill of health from an NCT (national car test) centre for a "fee" of €100.
The documentary also showed a driver working all night in a taxi and all day driving a Dublin Bus, as well as a mini-bus taxi carrying 13 schoolchildren without a licence. Clearly most drivers are honest and work hard but, if the documentary is to be believed, there is a core bad element that needs to be rooted out.
So, who is responsible? The gardaí bear responsibility for vehicle safety and driver vetting. There is an obvious need to ensure that those convicted of serious offences are not transporting our citizens around the country. Vehicles that are obviously defective yet display current NCT discs must be called into question and examined.
Applus+, the company that runs the National Car Testing Service (NCTS), bears responsibility for the tests and has said it will “vigorously investigate” the allegations of fraud, and we have to take them at their word that this will be done across the NCTS.
The taxi regulator, Kathleen Doyle, bears a great deal of responsibility, but on numerous occasions yesterday morning she pointed out that various issues highlighted by Prime Timewere not in her remit. Perhaps the regulator needs more power. The Office certainly needs more inspectors: there are only nine compliance inspectors and these cannot check for road worthiness.
But perhaps the most important group that bears responsibility is taxi drivers themselves and their representatives. Any time a negative aspect of the industry is highlighted, taxi driver unions and organisations are quick to muddy the waters with issues such as the number of part-time drivers, the number of licences and how difficult it is to make a living.
If taxi drivers want to regain the respect of their customers they need to root out the bad eggs themselves and report offenders to the relevant authorities.