The administrators of Manganese Bronze Holdings has announced that an engineering solution to the steering fault has been found for the TX4 model taxi.

Since being appointed, the joint administrators have focused their resources on developing and testing a solution to repair the steering manufacturing defect as quickly as possible, working closely with The Mayor, Transport for London (TfL), the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), other drivers’ organisations and the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA).  The administrators today confirmed they have secured supply chain availability and logistics to begin a rapid replacement of the affected parts in the recalled fleet with new steering boxes from a UK supplier.  Starting this weekend, the programme of works is targeted for completion by 14 December.  

Matthew Hammond, joint administrator and PwC partner, said: “I am pleased to be able to report that the company's employees will be part of a massive effort to begin fitting the new UK-supplied steering box to the recalled fleet within the next 48 hours.  Having secured replacement parts for the entire recalled fleet, the programme to fit these new components has been devised so that all recalled fleet cars will be fitted with new replacement parts by mid-December.  

“I fully appreciate the difficulties that the recall has created for individual taxi drivers, fleet operators, dealers and availability of taxis in the London black cab market.  I hope that within a matter of weeks we will have addressed the main difficulties faced by drivers and the under-supply of vehicles to the London black cab market.  We are working to get taxis back on the road as quickly as possible but clearly, with the large number of vehicles affected in London and also in the regions, this work will take several weeks to complete.

“The support of the Group’s management, employees and unions has been outstanding and a critical factor in getting to this stage.  We are grateful for their ongoing support and resolve, and we all remain focused on securing the future of the company.”
 
The joint administrators will continue to work closely with The Mayor, TfL and others, providing progress updates until work is completed.  They will also shortly commence deploying new replacement parts to the 500-strong fleet of new unregistered vehicles currently in the Group's stock holding.  Once the new components have been fitted the new unregistered vehicles can be considered for release into the market in early 2013.