One in 10 taxis not registered on mandatory new safety app

One in ten taxis do not have their details on a new safety app.

One in 10 taxis does not have its details on a new safety app.

All cab drivers are required to enter their information on the National Transport Authority's Driver Check.

Drivers face a €40 fine for not being on the app, which allows customers to check the vehicle's registration and displays photo IDs of their taxi operators.

Joe Heron from the Irish Taxi Drivers Federation said the 10% non-compliance rate is because some drivers are not tech savvy.

"All drivers are supposed to connect to the app but a lot of them - particulary older people that don't have smart phones and aren't maybe computer wise - are possibly the ones that are missing off it," he said.

"We see it here every now and again somebody will come into us and say 'I hear I'm supposed to be on this' and ask us to do it for them.

"It is lack of knowledge of it really that is the reason."

Update:The National Transport Authority (NTA) brought out the latest version of the Driver Check app two years ago, with the support of the taxi industry. The app shows the public whether both the driver and the vehicle they are about to hire are licenced by NTA and the Gardaí.

Customers who download the app are prompted to input the roofsign, the car registration or the driver ID number to see details of the car and driver, including a photograph.

The NTA has said that at any one time, an average of about 80-90% of the 21,000 cabs nationwide are registered with the app. A driver is only required to register when he or she is working, so 100% of licenced drivers and vehicles will never be registered at the same time.