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Making Taxis Safer
 Dacorum’s
374 Hackney Carriages and Private Hire vehicles are carefully
regulated by the Borough Council. Each vehicle must undergo an
annual check before the licence is renewed. In addition, stringent
spot checks are carried out to give residents greater confidence
when using cabs, improve public safety and enhance the overall
image of the licensed taxi trade within the Borough.
The spot checks are the responsibility of a multi-agency
team made up of the Vehicle Inspectorate, police officers from
the Western Area Road Policing Unit and Borough Council officers.
Any taxis found seriously defective are issued with a prohibition
notice, removed from the road immediately and required to pass
an MOT before being considered roadworthy. For less serious defects,
drivers are issued with an advisory notice and given up to 14
days to put the problem right.
As part of taxi regulation, each vehicle must carry
unique identifying easy-to-read information on the back of the
car near the number plate. As well as the licence number, this
plate gives the registration number, make, model and colour of
the vehicle and indicates how many passengers it is licensed to
carry. A hologram makes the licence plate almost impossible to
tamper with or switch between cars. Licence plates for Hackney
Carriages, the only car you can legally flag down from the side
of the road, are printed in black on a bright yellow background.
The taxi licence plate on a Private Hire taxi, which you must
ring in advance to book, is printed black on a white background.
For added public confidence and reassurance each
driver must carry at all times a photo identity card, again with
a hologram, and therefore almost impossible to forge.
For more information telephone 01442 228859.
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