Up to 42 per cent of taxis are failing Kirklees Council’s compliance test each month, rising concerns there are ‘dangerous’ vehicles on the roads.
A report presented to Wednesday’s meeting of Kirklees Council’s Licensing and Safety Committee provided an update on the work of the local authority’s licensing services. Detailed within this was information around compliance testing for private hire vehicles and hackney carriages.
All vehicles which are to be licensed by the council must undergo annual compliance testing and can be subject to up to three vehicle compliance tests per year for safety and condition reasons when required. The council’s Public Protection Group Leader for Licensing, Fiona Goldsmith, likened the test to an MOT but considering additional measures such as vehicle condition checks.
Vehicles can fail for majors or minors. If the reason for failure is regarded to be a minor, drivers are given a period of time to rectify the issue and take the vehicle back for a free test, the meeting heard. Major failures can see a vehicle licence suspended and a full retest, with the licence holder footing the bill.
According to the report, 2,445 tests were carried out between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 across the council’s George Street and Vine Street premises. Of these, 653, or 26.71 per cent, failed. In April 2024, 42 per cent of the 185 vehicles that were tested, failed, with this being the highest level for the period.
The most common reason for failure was lighting (308 vehicles), followed by steering/suspension (171 vehicles), wheels/tyres (152 vehicles) and then brakes (119 vehicles).
Image: Kirklees Council
Councillor Charles Greaves (Independent, Holme Valley North) said: “Some of the reasons given for failure – it’s a bit disappointing that those have been picked up on in annual compliance checks rather than in ongoing, periodic checks by the driver or the firm. Stuff like suspension, steering, brakes, conditions of tyres and wheels – really the driver should be checking those every time they’re going out.
“I notice it’s an annual check until the vehicle is five years old and then it goes on to twice annual but that leaves an awful lot of time where there might be dangerous vehicles on the road waiting for the council to check them.”
Councillor Greaves wanted to know what the council’s expectation was on taxi drivers and companies to undertake their own tests and checks on vehicles on a regular basis.
In response, Ms Goldsmith explained that the council no longer has a restriction on the number of tests increasing due to vehicle age – as was previously agreed by the committee – with all vehicles being tested annually.
She said: “Yes, they [taxi drivers] are supposed to do their own checks – quite honestly, everybody’s supposed to do their own checks when they get in a vehicle before they go – but yes the onus is supposed to be on the drivers to do their own checks and keep a record that they’ve done the checks.”
Councillor Eric Firth said: “I understand where you’re coming from. Obviously, some of the drivers or operators clearly see this as a once a year test and they’re not keeping up with maintenance as they should but that’s not all drivers, is it?”
Ms Goldsmith explained that it is a “minority” of vehicles and a “minority” of drivers with the council keeping an eye on the vehicles and proactively looking at them. She said: “If we happen upon a vehicle that just doesn’t look quite right, we can require them to go for an additional test. We can make them go for up to three a year.”
