Earlier this week, Bridgend Council’s Licensing Committee discussed the future of taxi MOT testing in the county (pdf).
At present, all taxi MOT testing is undertaken at BCBC’s in-house vehicle maintenance garage at Brackla Industrial Estate (Ty Thomas) – which is shared with South Wales Police.
Taxis not only require a standard MOT certificate but also need an enhanced taxi compliance check. These taxi tests brought in just under £50,000 in fees for BCBC during 2022-23.
In November 2022, representatives from the county’s taxi trade presented a petition with 170 signatures requesting that BCBC allow taxi testing at any MOT garage.
Following those discussions, the Ty Thomas management board looked at an early exit for taxi testing. However, they decided the current arrangement would remain in place until the end of a fixed-term agreement in March 2025.
With a year left on that agreement, BCBC will now undertake a feasibility study on opening up taxi MOT testing to any MOT garage. The options that will be looked at include:
- Any MOT garage in the county will be able to undertake both the standard taxi MOT test and the taxi compliance check.
- Taxi drivers/propriators can get the standard MOT certificate from any MOT garage, but will need to do the separate taxi compliance check in-house at Ty Thomas.
- A select number of approved MOT garages would be able to undertake the MOT and taxi compliance check.
- Retain the current in-house MOT and taxi compliance checks.
