TWU: NSW Taxi Safety Scandle

Transport Workers' Union (TWU) New South Wales Assistant Secretary Michael Aird has labelled the maintenance of the NSW taxi fleet rotten to the core, with vehicle safety checks undertaken by mechanics facing a massive conflict of interest and drivers forced to use vehicles that are falling apart around them.

"The public should not have to play taxi roulette with their lives every time they hail a cab, Mr Aird said.

"The disgraceful self-regulation of safety in the taxi industry is a tragedy waiting to happen, with standards as bad as in the grounded fuel tanker fleets.

"What the travelling public expect is genuinely independent safety checks on the 6000 plus taxis in our communities. Instead we have a system where major taxi companies operate a system of virtual self-regulation via Authorised Taxi Inspector Stations, which in many cases are owned by the major taxi operators. Mechanics face a massive conflict of interest and risk losing work if they certify too many vehicles as un-roadworthy.

"Even though taxis are on the road 24 hours a day, often driving hundreds of thousands of kilometres each year, 31 pages of Government regulations are concerned only with issues like decals, taxi lights, windshield wipers and security cameras. There is nothing about the engine, breaks, airbags or the suspension.

"Taxi drivers earn as little as $7.55 an hour and many have no option but to drive crazy hours in un-roadworthy cars, risking dangerous fatigue problems just to put food on their tables.'

Sydney Taxi veteran Michael Hatrick said conditions for drivers and the travelling public have gone downhill big time over the past 25 years.

"Back in the day the Government used to carry out the safety checks but then they outsourced this to the taxi industry. Every other day I'm driving a car that probably shouldn't be on the road but it's been passed as safe", Mr Hatrick said.

Michael Aird continued, "Every taxi driver has a horror story to tell about having to drive a car with serious mechanical issues. It's not just a case of a few dodgy operators, it's endemic in the flawed system the State Government is responsible for.

"Many drivers speak English as a second language and are not aware of Australian workplace laws, making them even more vulnerable to exploitation by dodgy operators.

"It's a miracle that more serious taxi crashes have not happened on our roads, but unless the Government takes immediate action it is only a matter of time."