Festive Highland and Islands roadside taxi checks reveal multitude of licensing and vehicle problems
Highlands and Islands Road Policing Officers, in collaboration with Highland Council Trading Standards, conducted a series of roadside checks on taxis and private hire vehicles as part of a pre-festive season initiative.
The operation took place over two days, on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 November, in Inverness and Fort William. Officers stopped and inspected 21 vehicles to ensure compliance with licensing and safety regulations.
The checks uncovered 15 licensing breaches, all addressed by Trading Standards. Additionally, four vehicles were found to have defects. Drivers were either warned or offered the chance to rectify the issues through the Vehicle Defect Rectification Scheme.
The initiative forms part of an ongoing effort to ensure public safety and maintain standards in the taxi and private hire industry during the busy festive period. Further checks are expected in the weeks ahead.
Road Policing Constable Ben Cruickshank said: “We carried out this operation with our partners ahead of the festive season to ensure that people using taxis or private hire cars can get home safely and everyone can enjoy the season.
“It was also another opportunity for us to give advice and highlight to drivers the importance of regular checks to ensure their vehicles are roadworthy. We were keen to highlight the dangers and serious consequences of not keeping vehicles up to the required standard.”
Mark McGinty, Trading Standards Team Leader, said: “Joint operations of this nature are an essential part of enforcement and it has been good once again to partner with Police Scotland Road Policing as the Festive season begins.
“Operations of this nature not only offer an opportunity to gain a snapshot of the level of trade compliance with Licensing laws and conditions but also they allow for direct engagement between the trade and the enforcement community. This dialogue has always been positive be it for the giving of general advice or as a push for those found to have non-compliances, to rectify and raise the standards of what they do to meet that expected of them.”
McGinty added: “Such an operation also of course gives confidence to the general public in that the use of taxis and PHC’s in the Highland Council area is safe, legal and fair.”
