Taxi drivers blame city council’s roads for increased car damage

Kuldit Johal, secretary of the Derby Area Taxi Operators’ Association, said: “Ball joints cost around £65 to get repaired and we are having lots of taxis where that is the fault and its caused by the potholes.”While we are having our cars repaired it is costing us more than £100 a day while they are off the road through lost business. Whenever we explain the problems to the enforcement officers, they are not bothered.”Saqib Khawhaja, owner of Derby Taxi Spares on the West Meadows Industrial Estate, said: “We are seeing about two extra taxis a week at the moment with problems caused by potholes.”He added that they were having to fix problems with parts of the suspension – such as ball joints, tracking and bushes (rubber connections between suspension parts).”It’s got worse over the past couple of months.”And Ellie Beaumont of Woodbine Garage in Sinfin Lane, Sinfin, said: “We are seeing two cars a week on average which have been damaged by potholes.”We had one car in the other day which came in for a ball joint repair and then needed new wishbone bushes as well and the tracking doing which cost around £185. “The potholes were the cause and they are disgusting. There is one in Grampian Way which is huge” And head mechanic Craig Fallows added: “I’m going through a load of tyres at the moment on my Honda Civic because the potholes are just shredding them” But Councillor Lucy Care, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “There are plenty of reasons why vehicles can suffer damage, including potholes and also drivers going over speed bumps too quickly or hitting kerbs. The council works hard all year round to inspect all its roads for damage and repair dangerous potholes promptly”  “Regarding taxis, these are working vehicles that generate a huge mileage. That means that they’re more likely to be the subject of damage as a result of being on the road for more of the time.”The council carries out inspections of taxis to help ensure passenger safety. The reality is that, regardless of when the council carries out this enforcement, it finds a number of vehicles with defects that need to be corrected” “For example, defective handbrakes, seat belts badly damaged, and worn tyres were just some of the reasons the council took enforcement action with taxis over the last six months” “This can result in suspended licences or a requirement to carry out urgent improvements. During the last 12 months there has been no correlation between bad weather and the number of enforcement notices issued.”Whatever causes the defect, if a vehicle is not safe for the road then it needs to be taken off the road. However, taxi drivers are ideally placed to alert the council to specific problems and thus help ensure serious potholes are repaired promptly.”