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Company Drivers |
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At ‘Zodiac’ we are able to give company driver assessments and taxi test training.
Taxi Drivers
DSA take the view that professional Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers have a special responsibility in the safe transportation of fare paying passengers. Every journey should be a safe one. Taxi drivers make millions of safe and efficient journeys in Britain each year and the safe completion of each journey totally depends on the skill of the driver.
Some Licensing Authorities insist that before you are issued with a Hackney Carriage or Private Hire drivers licence you must pass a Hackney Carriage/Private Hire assessment. If your Licensing Authority requires you to take the test, it is recommended that you familiarise yourself with the content of the test and that you take professional instruction prior to taking the test.
Advice on taking a taxi test
The taxi assessment test is reflective of modern driving practices; the standard is set at a level suitable for the full driving licence holder, which is therefore higher than the learner driver test. It is important that you do not adjust your driving to what you may feel the examiner would expect to see, do not drive in an unnatural manner. It is important that you read the Highway Code and be familiar with your vehicle.
To pass you are permitted to accumulate up to nine driving faults, if you accumulate 10 or more driving faults you will fail. Any serious or dangerous faults will be immediately recorded as a failure; the test will still continue finally returning to the driving test centre.
Wheelchair accessible vehicles
You should demonstrate your ability to securely erect the wheelchair ramps (whatever style of ramp fitted to your vehicle)
It is important that you can demonstrate all the principles of safety and security - if seat belts, wheel belts or wheel clamps etc are fitted then they should be in good working order and applied whatever style of wheelchair accessible vehicle you take on test.
Company Driver Assessments
All drivers who are expected to drive for the purposes of their job are subject to the relevant H&S laws.
So what can companies do?
1. Ensure that drivers understand their responsibilities in regard to safe driving and vehicle maintenance through risk assessment and basic training.
2. Ensure that vehicles are fit for purpose and maintained in a safe condition, with auditable paper trails.
3. Have written and agreed guidelines for work related driving, including clearly laid out responsibilities and disciplinary consequences.
None of these things should be hard or expensive to achieve, but they will need for the company as a whole to take safe driving seriously - from board level down to employee drivers.
Your drivers are representatives of your Company and are not only entrusted with a very expensive and potentially lethal vehicle, but also with your Company Image.
You are entitled to expect a professional to project and protect your image, but how do you know?
‘Zodiac’ is able to offer independent driver assessments both for job applicants and for those who have come to notice through accidents or other incidents.
The cost is minimal compared with the cost of your vehicles and more importantly, your good name.
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