Death cabbie in bid for new taxi licence

Aaron Todd

A SOUTH Tyneside cabbie who escaped a jail term after he was convicted of causing the death of a teenage passenger is bidding to return to the taxi trade, it has emerged.

Aaron Todd, 18, died from head injuries sustained after either exiting or falling out of Paul Stephenson’s Fiat Scudo on Hedworth Lane in Jarrow on March 29, 2009.

The teenager, of Kirkstone Avenue, Jarrow, died in hospital six days later.

Mr Stephenson, 63, of St Hilda Street, South Shields, was found guilty of causing death by careless driving at Newcastle Crown Court on May 4, 2010.

He was later sentenced to a nine-month prison term, suspended for 18 months, and banned from driving for 18 months.

Additionally, Mr Stephenson, a taxi driver with 30 years’ experience, had his licence to drive cabs revoked.

Now it has emerged that he submitted an application to return to the borough’s roads as a cabbie.

His bid to licensing officers at South Tyneside Council was subsequently rejected.

But an appeal against that decision is to be heard at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on Monday, September 30. Speaking at his home in South Shields earlier this week, Mr Stephenson declined to comment on his new taxi bid, saying only: “It all gets taken out of proportion. I don’t want to say anything.”

Meanwhile, Mr Todd’s mother, Karen Rutter, has also declined to comment on the move.

Sentencing at Teesside Crown Court on May 27, 2010, the judge, Mr Justice Davis, said Mr Todd, an apprentice joiner and talented footballer, had jumped from the vehicle as it moved off, banging his head on the road surface.

It was found that Mr Stephenson had caused the death of the teenager, who was with four friends at the time, by driving off with his cab door open.

A spokesman for South Tyneside Council said: “Due to the ongoing legal proceedings, the council is unable to comment at this time.”

source: http://www.shieldsgazette.com/