Chaos as cab firm barred

There was chaos yesterday at the headquarters of a cab company ordered off the road for having unroadworthy cars and drivers without licences.

Angry drivers - mostly owner-operators - at the Mt Roskill depot of Economy Taxis organised transfers to other firms.

The company, one of Auckland's biggest with a fleet of more than 300 cabs, has been operating in Auckland since 1999 and has grown to become the second largest company after Co-op Taxis.

But Land Transport New Zealand yesterday revoked the company's licence for "several serious breaches of the regulations".

Mohsen Asali, a driver for two years, said it would cost him hundreds of dollars.

"A few of the drivers made the problems and it should be them who are punished, not the whole company," Mr Asali said.

Another driver, Abdul Mia, said Economy's problems were the same as those faced by several other taxi companies.

"If an individual driver is at fault, blame him. Why are 300 people being punished?"

Many of the drivers were transferring to Black Cabs, which took over Economy's office yesterday.

Pradeep Kumar, assistant manager of Black Cabs, said he was "checking carefully the status and vehicles of any of their drivers who come to us".

Among the breaches were taxis without Certificates of Fitness, false records, drivers who were not authorised to carry passengers and even some drivers who had no licences.

"There was a general lack of control by company management over its members and drivers," said John Doesburg, Land Transport's manager for commercial road transport. "The operating standards of this company were simply not up to scratch." Rafaqat Raja, the owner of Economy Taxis, said yesterday the investigation into his company was flawed and he had been unfairly targeted.

Mr Doesburg said Economy Taxis had been given several chances but had failed to raise standards.

It had to be closed for the "safety and security of the travelling public".

The company was so badly managed that it had claimed to have a fleet of between 280 and 350 cabs but was "unable to provide Land Transport investigators with an exact figure".

Police had been notified and would order any Economy taxis off the road, Mr Doesburg said.

Economy Taxis' management was warned it faced disciplinary action on March 9 and given final notice of the removal of its approved taxi organisation status on May 25.

Mr Doesburg said the revocation action was a sign of Land Transport's determination to improve standards in the industry throughout New Zealand.

As part of the formation of Land Transport in December 2004, a new nationally managed team of investigators was established to focus on the commercial road transport industry, including taxis.

It came after complaints about service, including an Auckland City Council-commissioned study which showed a third of drivers could not speak English and did not know where they were going.

Auditor-General Kevin Brady also tabled a report in Parliament last year, saying the taxi industry had been inadequately monitored, leading to the risk of "unfit and improper" drivers.

Mr Doesburg said Land Transport would work with taxi companies willing to improve standards, "and we will take action against those who won't".

George Tyler, of the Taxi Federation, said if Land Transport had taken such a strong line there must have been serious breaches of the rules.

"If they [taxi companies] are not obeying the regulations then we back Land Transport," he said.

"We need to get rid of cowboys in this industry."

ECONOMY'S RUN-INS

What the investigation found:

* Drivers without passenger service licences.

* Drivers whose licences were suspended.

* Taxis without Certificates of Fitness.

* Taxis without passenger service licences.

* False rosters for drivers.

* False logbook entries for driving hours.