Local Taxis Fail Inspection Checks

Ten St Andrews-based taxis have failed, seven of those having been deregistered with immediate effect

An investigation has led to multiple local taxis being deregistered and taken off the roads in North East Fife.

Over the course of three evenings in November 2025, taxi operators in North East Fife were subjected to random vehicle inspections. Of the eighteen vehicles that were checked in St Andrews and Leuchars, only eight passed these spot checks. Of the ten vehicles that failed, seven have had their license plates removed immediately for issues including defective mechanical issues, damaged wheels, oil/coolant leaks, and warning lights on the dashboard.

Of the final three failing drivers, two were given verbal warnings regarding minor infringements, and one was given 30 days to repair bodywork damage.

These numbers raise concern when considered alongside West Fife, which recently underwent similar inspections and achieved a roughly 68% pass rate, compared with East Fife’s 44%. West Fife operators who failed did not carry fire extinguishers, drivers were unable to present their ID badges, and the vehicles appeared dirty. 

These issues were brought before Fife Council’s Regulation and Licensing Committee earlier this month, leading multiple councillors to express their concern over the results. 

According to Fife Today, Councillor Lea McLelland said, “What worries me is when you look at this, and there are all these warning lights on. Things like a tyre pressure warning, if you are in poor driving conditions, that could be catastrophic.”

“No fire extinguisher — if you are in a car, that is the difference between life and death. It is like someone not caring,” she continued.

While also expressing his concern, Fife Today reported that Councillor Darren Watt suggested that the stop check figures “detracted” from the results in the annual inspection reports, which saw significantly higher pass rates.

He found the spot check results, on the contrary, to be “absolutely alarming, particularly in the East Fife area.”

Meanwhile, Fife Today reported that Tom Brown, Fife Council’s lead officer for miscellaneous licensing, assured that the Council was maintaining close communication with taxi operators. He said that it “is all about creating a culture of learning and education and engaging with taxi companies and getting them to raise their standards.”

“In February, there’s a meeting with regular taxi companies, and we are going to try [to] increase a better culture of engagement,” he said.

Brown advocated for using these techniques of learning and engagement to quell the issue, rather than “relying on enforcement to raise standards.”

Ultimately, the committee determined that the operators who had failed the November spot checks would face an appointment with the committee. Licence holders who have passed all annual tests but failed a spot check will meet with the convener and vice convener of the Regulations and Licensing Committee. Those with previous failures or removed plates, however, will appear before the full committee, where they face the potential suspension of their license.

These safety concerns regarding Fife taxis are nothing new. Last May, 206 vehicles in North East Fife received similar inspections, with 45 failing. Issues included illegal number plates and damaged seatbelts, along with many of the same infringements recorded in November.

According to The Courier, the then-Councillor David MacDiarmid said, “If it was up to me, I would bring them all in, knock their heads together and knock some sense into them. Why have they not got it into their skulls these are the standards we set?”

Other Fife Council officials spoke out as well, with former convener Carol Lindsay saying that it was the worst set of figures she had seen in her eighteen years on the committee, and that “we have thrown every possible solution at this.”

“There’s one operator I can pick out who, when I was convener, we had in front of us at least five times, and she’s back again," she continued.

As far back as June 2024, James Glen of St Andrews Taxis was recorded to have spoken out against the issue. Speaking to The Courier, he expressed the belief that people from outside the area were bypassing their local test regimes and “flocking to Fife,” which has no written test.

He said that, while Dundee, Perth & Kinross, and Angus require operators to pass a knowledge test, with Dundee City Council also requiring a police test and other qualifications, it “beggars belief Fife Council does not operate a similar system.”

These claims have been denied by Fife’s licensing chiefs, who insist that all applicants are subjected to robust checks as well as a thorough police check.

However, Glen maintained that “Fife’s current set-up is manifestly not working as it should or else there would not be so much unacceptable behaviour on the rank.”

Image by Alden Arnold