Please be more accurate in reporting: a taxi is NOT a rental car!

Many media outlets do not distinguish clearly enough between taxi and rental car. Thus the "Express" from Cologne reports on inspections of taxis and rental cars, but in the teaser it says, however, that the police had discovered serious deficiencies in taxi inspections.

The police in Düren checked taxis and rental cars — and had several issues to report. | Photo: pixabay, fsHH
The police in Düren checked taxis and rental cars — and had several issues to report. | Photo: pixabay, fsHH

In a short article in the Cologne-based newspaper "Express" from May 24, it was about a targeted police control operation by the Düren police. On Pentecost Sunday, a total of five taxis and three rental cars were checked.

According to "Express," several violations were uncovered in the process. For example, two rental cars were waiting at the station for customers without a dispatch order, instead of being at the company’s base as required. Several taxi drivers, including female drivers, also did not have all the required documents with them. In four cases, the registration numbers on the vehicles were affixed incorrectly.

Operating-base Problem

There were also significant deficiencies at the operating bases. Four operating bases were also inspected, during which the officers on the scene noted "significant objections." It was not specified more precisely whether all four operating bases showed deficiencies, or whether—as expected—precisely the operating bases of the rental-car operators gave rise to objections. According to the police authority, it will now be checked whether the prerequisites for issuing a license are still fulfilled for individual companies. The police also announced that it would continue the inspections in the future.

The taxi trade would indeed be significantly helped if police authorities regulated the taxi and rental car sector more strictly. It would also be desirable if reporting carefully distinguished between the taxi trade and the taxi-like rental car traffic. For if not even the press can recognize the difference, how can one then expect customers to be able to distinguish between the reputable taxi trade and platform rental cars?

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