Derbyshire taxis tested by police in road safety blitz

More than half of taxi drivers stopped by police in a Derbyshire town on one day failed safety or licence tests.

The spot checks on black cabs and private hire vehicles in Chesterfield, found 30 of 46 drivers had licence issues or unroadworthy vehicles.

The checks on 4 March were carried out by police, trading standards and district council officers.

Defects found on the taxis included broken lights, below level tyre treads and leaking brake fluid.

Eight cars had tyres with low treads, three of which were so poor the drivers were issued with notices to remove the cars from the road immediately.

The taxis were stopped and checked by the team based at the Chesterfield bus depot on Sheffield Road.

Pc Steve Simmons said: "What we identified, sadly, is there are many vehicles being used for the carriage of paying passengers which are substandard for the use on roads. There is clearly more work to be done in this field."