DISCUSSIONS have taken place this month over the future of taxi MOT testing in Bridgend County Borough.
Taxi MOT testing in the area is currently undertaken at BCBC’s in-house vehicle maintenance garage, Ty Thomas, based at Brackla Industrial Estate.
It works with local taxi companies which require an enhanced taxi compliance check on top of their standard MOT certificate. The site is also shared with South Wales Police, and was said to have brought in £49,785 worth of income from taxi fees in the last year.
However, in November of 2022, the licensing committee heard representations from the local taxi trade, who presented a petition with around 170 signatures with the aim to open up taxi testing in Bridgend County Borough to other MOT garages.
It led to the management board at Ty Thomas having further discussions on the possibility of an “early exit” from the taxi testing agreement, thought it was later confirmed that the existing testing arrangements would continue to run until the end of an agreement which expires in March of 2025.
Officers said that with the date only a year away, they would now begin a feasibility study, to look at opening up taxi MOT testing in the area, with a number of options on the table that could include – allowing taxi companies to obtain a MOT Certificate from any MOT testing station, selecting an approved number of testing stations, or maintaining the current in-house arrangements as they stand.
Officers added that they would now begin the feasibility study at the beginning of the next financial year, though said they would not yet be able to give a time-line on when this would be ready to bring to members.
