New name but similar fare

Rafaqat Raja, former owner of Economy Taxis, is now associated with the new company NZ Black Cabs. Picture / Brett Phibbs

As soon as safety authorities ordered one of Auckland's biggest taxi companies off the road, more than half its drivers were back on it again for an almost identical firm.

It was as easy as changing a sticker.

Economy Taxis and its fleet of more than 300 cabs was shut down by Land Transport New Zealand 11 weeks ago for the "safety and the security of the travelling public".

The company was found to be using false rosters and had cars and drivers without the appropriate certificates or licences, among other issues.

Weekend Herald inquiries have found more than half the drivers simply changed their stickers that day to Black Cabs, a company using Economy's phone number and Mt Roskill depot.

It is owned by the wife of Economy Taxis owner Rafaqat Raja, who Land Transport New Zealand say would have had difficulties getting approval to manage a taxi company again.

Mr Raja was manning the phones in the company's Portacom office when the Weekend Herald visited twice this week.

He said he was "just a driver" for the new company, insisting he had nothing to do with running it.

Mr Raja said 160 Economy Taxi drivers had gone over to Black Cabs and the others had gone to other companies. He said that raised a question for Land Transport NZ: "What did you people achieve? The same drivers are working, the same cars are out on the roads. Everything is same. All they have done is finished off Raja. But I was not a criminal.

"That's why I'm still sitting here."

Mr Raja claimed Land Transport NZ was encouraging poor driver standards by targeting owners.

"At the moment, they are allowing drivers to do whatever they want. The driver does not have to worry, they will just do the company," he said.

Mr Raja, a Pakistani, said he worked in accounts in his homeland but had been a factory worker and a taxi driver here. He said 95 per cent of his drivers were Muslims - from the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh. "The authorities here just do not want us overseas people to be doing well."

Mr Raja said the Human Rights Commission had turned down his complaint of racism.

He also said he had not heard back from the Fair Go television programme after going to it about his issues with Land Transport NZ.

John Doesburg, commercial road transport manager for Land Transport NZ, said it was monitoring Black Cabs just like any other taxi company, and its cars that had been inspected at downtown ranks were up to standard.

Mr Doesburg said if Land Transport had grounds for concern it could go into Black Cabs and start the audit process again.

He said there was no law that prevented Mr Raja from acting as a telephonist or driver for another taxi company.

Although there were limitations to the law he did not believe that there was any need for "draconian" laws to keep Mr Raja off the premises.

"We've got to be realistic here," Mr Doesburg said. "At the end of the day, we have to assess the performance of Black Cabs and if they don't perform and don't comply then we will be forced to take action, as we did with Economy Taxis."

Mr Raja was consistent in saying that he was just a driver at his wife's company. However, when Mr Raja posed in a taxi for a Herald photographer, a Black Cabs driver walked past and said, "What are you doing? You don't drive any more."