A public consultation will go ahead in Conwy to determine whether older cars should be used for taxis, increasing the pool of ‘accessible’ vehicles for disabled people.

The matter was discussed at a licensing committee meeting this week at Bodlondeb where councillors debated whether vehicles older than five years should be used to increase the number of accessible vehicles.

Committee members unanimously voted in favour of granting council officers reasonable discretion to allow older vehicles to be considered if they passed stringent certificate of compliance (COC) tests.

Currently, all taxis must be five years old or less, but the new rules would see trained officers inspect vehicles, which also have to pass the usual MOT tests every six months.

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It is hoped the move will increase the number of accessible taxis and reduce disability discrimination.

John Donnelly is the lead licensing officer and explained how the proposed system would work.

“All the officers are doing is saying ‘yes, it’s older than five years old. Let’s have a look. Has it got all its equipment? Has it got everything in the right place? Is it in exceptional condition? Does it look good?’,” he said.

“They can check the tyres.

“They can check underneath the vehicle, and then the vehicle would then be referred to a COC testing station.

“If it fails the COC, it fails the COC. Officers have no redress against that. Officers do carry out random on-site, on-road vehicle inspections on a regular basis, and every single Hackney Carriage private higher vehicle is inspected by officers on an annual basis.

“They are allowed to make a determination whether they think that vehicle is safe or not, but they cannot override the COC.”

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Cllr Keith Eeles proposed the committee backed the recommendation, and this was seconded by Cllr Alan Hunter.

Cllr Hunter said that modern cars lasted much longer than they used to.

“Cars are built to a totally different standard these days,” he said.

“An example: mine’s 12 years old, 120,000 miles. It has got air bags, ABS. It has never failed an MOT, so I think we should be extending this now. The build quality is so much better. Our officers will have the discretion to say whether it goes forward or not, so we’ve got to trust those officers as well, and there is a fall back with the later inspection as well.”

The matter will now go out to public consultation.