New Zealand Taxi Drivers To Face English Testing

Taxi drivers will be taken off the road if they can't understand their passengers or know where passengers want to go, under new rules in the pipeline.

The changes will mean taxi drivers have to sit more stringent area knowledge and English language tests, enforceable under the new Land Transport Amendment Act.

Taxi drivers who don't make the grade will be taken off the road.

The legislation, passed last year by Parliament, followed complaints about taxi drivers' abilities.

High-profile incidents of taxi troubles have included that of New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who refused to pay Somali driver Muhiyadin one night in 2003, insisting he had to walk the last section of his trip home in the Wellington suburb of Ngaio after a late night out because the driver didn't know the way.

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