Published: Wednesday, 3rd March, 2010 6:00pm

Taxi drivers tested on wrong town

by Danielle Harney

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Taxi drivers who want to work in Athlone have to pass a street knowledge test of Mullingar to get a licence from the Taxi Regulator, it has been claimed this week.

Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, who owns a taxi company, told Athlone Town Council on Monday night that when local operators apply for a Westmeath licence, they have to sit a written test, which includes questions on their street knowledge of Mullingar.

"Taxi operators are huge employers in the town, but since Kathleen Doyle took over she introduced a number of restrictions," he said.

"You have to do a knowledge test and it's based in Mullingar. There's 94 questions and of them 23 are on knowledge of the town, but these are based in Mullingar."

He said that the Taxi Regulator's response would be that as drivers receive a Westmeath licence they should know the geography of the whole county.

"It's unfair to be penalised by having to look at the streets of Mullingar.

She's putting people off the road," he told councillors.

The council agreed that it would write to the Taxi Regulator to request a review of the test methods used.

A recent report by the Irish Independent showed that there is a first-time fail rate of 92% for people taking the taxi drivers test.

Eleven out of every 12 people fail the knowledge and skills test in their first attempt. Ms Doyle said that the failure rate showed that drivers had to have an in-depth knowledge of their area to pass the exam.

Taxi drivers with existing licences will have to take the rules and regulations test before January 2012.