Are You Safe In A Taxi ( Yes It's Part 3! )

Bogus taxi roof signs on sale in Dublin shops for just e200
City News Home
By Geraldine Gittens

Wednesday September 24 2008

BOGUS taxi roof signs can be bought widely around Dublin city by people who don't have a taxi licence, a taxi drivers union leader has told the Herald.

The National Taxi Drivers Union (NTDU) says the signs, which are the key symbol of identification for taxi cabs, can be bought in some Dublin shops for just a few hundred euro, without professional taxi identification.

"Anybody can buy a taxi sign for €200. They don't ask who you are," says Tommy Gorman, President of the NTDU. "There are eight outlets around Dublin selling these taxi signs."

Mr Gorman says that he was outraged after he himself bought a sign without hassle.

"I told them I had a driver on the M50 who was in a crash and a truck driver drove over the taxi sign and destroyed it.

"They told me it'd be ready in an hour for €200. They're selling signs and you require no ID to buy them," he said.

"It's an unfortunate thing. God knows what's going on."

Mr Gorman says he was amazed that not even other taxi drivers at ranks noticed when the signs he bought had the exact same licence numbers.

"I bought two taxi plates with the same number and we paraded them around Dublin, one of them on a private car, and no one noticed."

Symbol

Mr Gorman says the issue is a huge concern because the sign is such an important symbol for the public when they attempt to hail a taxi, adding that the taxi driver's ID card, placed before the passenger seat of the car, does not give the unwitting public enough notice as to whether the driver is licensed or not.

"You don't hail the ID on the front of the car, you hail the sign. The public need to be protected because they're in danger.

"When you get into a taxi, find out if the taxi driver can produce an official receipt at the end of the taxi journey.

"It seems extreme, but the sign could be stolen," he added.

"The taxi driver must be able to print out an official receipt by law," he added.

The NTDU president stressed that he is concerned about the lack of enforcement with regard to taxi signage: "The taxi regulator has its own enforcers. Eight is not sufficient, along with a senior enforcer. How can you protect the public with this amount of enforcers and 26,000 taxi drivers? It's an impossibility".

Meanwhile, the Commission for Taxi Regulation has said that each licensed taxi, hackney and limousine has a "tamper proof disc on its front and rear windows confirming the vehicle"

"This disc is fitted by the National Car Testing Service as part of the licensing process," said a spokesperson, who added that they, "along with the Gardai, carry out regular checks on vehicles at taxi ranks across the country".

- Geraldine Gittens