A SCHEME which sees taxis in Darlington tested three times a year could soon be abolished.

New regulations, brought in on a pilot basis last year, saw taxis facing six-monthly tests by Vehicle Inspectorate officials, as well as the annual MOT.

But after a taxi operator complained that a driver had been forced to take his vehicle for an MOT only 30 minutes after sitting one of the licensing tests, it was announced that the system would be likely to change.

John Singh, a partner at Abbacab Taxis, said the vehicle had been out of the testing centre only half an hour before it had to go for its MOT, which examines vehicles to a lower standard than that which it had just undergone.

He said: "It came out of Banks Road fully passed, with a certificate from them and it was due an MOT half an hour later - and it's the same people who did it."

A spokesman for Darlington Borough Council, which licenses taxis in the area, said a single examination could be introduced, which would lighten the load on operators, in financial terms and in the amount of time vehicles would be off the road.

He said: "We are going to have one test eventually and that will be the Vehicle Inspectorate test, because it is independent, and more thorough.

"Our concern is always for public safety.