PRIVATE hire drivers have warned that some face losing their livelihood in the busy run-up to Christmas - because, they claim, Bolton's only testing centre cannot cope.

The drivers claim that the centre - run by Bolton Council's Direct Labour Organisation at Wellington Yard garage - is so booked up that drivers risk losing their vehicle licences while they wait for cars to be tested. They claim that the garage - which won the contract and now has a monopoly on hackney carriage and private hire tests - has such a backlog of work that anyone needing a re-test after the discovery of a fault on the initial test faces a long wait which could force them off the road if their licence runs out.

Janice Clarke, who runs Zodiac Cars on Manchester Road, Burnden said: "We run into this problem every Christmas. It's the most profitable time for the drivers, who are self-employed, yet they face having their vehicles off the road at this vital time.

"The problem happens if they fail the initial test and have to book another one. In that period their licence could run out and they can't use their vehicle. It happens every year and everyone is fed up with the situation."

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: "There is no backlog at the moment.

"But we have put on extra tests between Monday and Friday specifically to cope with people coming along late."

He added that all taxi drivers were given a month's notice that their vehicle needed testing and they could make an appointment any time within the notification period.

There are 100 black cabs and between nearly 600 private hire cars in Bolton which all need testing twice a year.

There has been a long-standing disagreement with the council over Bolton's monopoly on the tests and the Private Hire Association is campaigning for a change in the law which will allow cars to be tested twice yearly as part of the normal MOT test at any authorised garage.

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