National Taxi Association

A CARLISLE taxi driver has had his licence suspended for six weeks after admitting that he failed to securely fasten a wheelchair passenger.

Mario Gomes, of Merith Avenue in Botcherby, Carlisle, appeared before the city council’s regulatory committee following a complaint made by one of his passengers, Carol Topliss.

But despite councillors opting to suspend Mr Gomes’s licence, both Mrs Topless and her husband Victor, 67 – who was in the wheelchair at the time – said they felt that the suspension is not adequate.

Mrs Topliss contacted Carlisle City Council on March 2 to say that her husband had not been properly secured in the back of Mr Gomes’s vehicle during a journey from the Citadel railway station to their home in Sheehan Crescent, Raffles, at around 9pm on March 1.

In a report given to members of the panel, licensing officer Nicola Edwards said that Mr Topliss’s wheelchair was put into the taxi sideways behind the driver’s seat, rather than facing towards the rear window and was clipped to the floor.

In her complaint, Mrs Topliss, 57, said that the wheelchair was not secured during the journey and that at times it was moving around in the taxi. She said at one point she had to put her feet up to stop it.

She also said that she phoned Carlisle Taxi Hire, whose number was on the side of Mr Gomes’s vehicle, to try and find out who he was before making a complaint to the council.

She also contacted their regular taxi driver, who explained that a wheelchair should be stored facing backwards.

The panel was told that after the complaint was made, Mr Gomes was called to Carlisle Civic Centre to speak with officers, where he denied that he had taken a passenger to Sheehan Crescent, Raffles – something which he later admitted.

He was also to demonstrate how he would put a wheelchair passenger into the taxi, suggesting that he would put them in sideways.

Members of the panel were told that Mr Gomes had completed a disability awareness course in May 2015, when he was granted his licence.

Asked why he put Mr Topliss’s wheelchair in sideways, he said: “Some passengers that I’ve taken before prefer to do it this way, rather than go in backwards because they’re not comfortable.”

John Bell, councillor for Morton and chairman of the panel, said: “On this occasion did the passenger ask to be put in the taxi sideways?” to which Mr Gomes replied: “No”.

Jacqueline Franklin, councillor for Belle Vue and vice-chairman of the panel, asked Mr Gomes: “If you know that a passenger should be facing backwards, why did you put yourself at risk and the passenger at risk?”

He said: “I have not had much experience. I haven’t done it again since.”

Mr Bell told Mr Gomes that his Hackney Carriage licence would be suspended for six weeks and that he would have to re-sit – and pass – the disability awareness course.

However, speaking to the News & Star after the meeting, Mr and Mrs Topliss said that they did not think a six-week suspension was enough.

“My husband suffers from a serious spinal injury and so any jolt or movement could have left him paralysed, or even killed him,” Mrs Topliss said.

“We didn’t think it was our place to ask the driver to move him, because he’s supposed to know what he’s doing. We don’t think that six weeks is enough, really.

“What was annoying is that he told the council more than once that he hadn’t taken a customer to Sheehan Crescent. He was trying to get out of it.”

Mr Topliss said: “The wheelchair kept moving around, it didn’t really feel safe at all.”

source: http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/

Taxis are to be given a legal duty to carry wheelchair-using passengers - 20 years after the law was first approved by Parliament.

Transport Minister Andrew Jones said he aimed to implement anti-discrimination measures by the end of the year after bowing to pressure to end two decades of inaction.

The move came hours before the publication of a House of Lords report about disability which was expected to strongly criticise his failure to commit to the measure.

Rights for guide dog and wheelchair users not to be refused access to taxis and other private hire vehicles were first put into legislation in the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act.

But only the guide dog sections were ever brought into force, despite the wheelchair provisions being included in the Equality Act of 2010.

They say a taxi must carry a passenger in their chair at no extra charge and “take such steps as are necessary to ensure that the passenger is carried in safety and reasonable comfort”.

Drivers must also transport the wheelchair if the passenger wants to travel in a passenger seat and ” give the passenger such mobility assistance as is reasonably required”.

In evidence to the Lords committee examining the impact of the Equality Act on disabled people, Mr Jones had declined to commit to the move.

He said the Government wanted to avoid unnecessary regulation on business and “need to consider whether there are alternative ways of improving driver behaviour and the service the public receives before implementing legislation” but that he was ” quite supportive of the basic principle”.

The committee found his reasoning “entirely unconvincing”.

The move will be welcomed by disability campaigners but doubts will remain about the enforcement of the rules as many guide dog owners complain that they are still refused by some drivers.

Mr Jones said: “Everyone has the right to access public transport. We have made progress but there is a long way to go before there is equal access.

“We are in the process of strengthening the law, placing a clear duty on taxi drivers to assist passengers with wheelchairs and making it a criminal offence to charge them extra.

“We are also working with transport operators to improve access to buses and train stations across the country and will continue to work with disability groups and local authorities as we make further improvements.”

Baroness Deech, who chaired the committee that examined the Act, said: “I am very pleased that the imminent issue of our report, in which they must have realised they were going to be severely criticised, has jolted them into action.

“But I will only be satisfied when I see it actually happen.

“Our report says that taxi drivers should be trained and that local authorities should not give them licences unless they comply with the terms of the Equality Act.

“If they breach it they should be sanctioned.”

source: http://www.theargus.co.uk/

TAXI drivers in Crawley are going to be trained in how to spot the signs they could be asked to pick up and ferry around a child who is being sexually exploited in the town or at Gatwick Airport.

To mark Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Awareness Day on Friday, March 18 it was announced all 850 licensed hackney carriage and private hire drivers in Crawley will undergo new training. CSE is the abuse and manipulation of young girls and boys into sexual activity, potentially in exchange for things such as money, gifts, accommodation, affection or status.

There are concerns Crawley’s links with Gatwick Airport and the number of hotels in the area could mean vulnerable children are being exploited for sex – with drivers unknowingly transporting them.

Councillor Michael Jones, cabinet member for public protection and community engagement at Crawley Borough Council and chair of the Safer Crawley Partnership, said: “Taxi drivers are known to transport vulnerable adults and children.

“While I’ve received no intelligence to pinpoint there being a particular issue in Crawley, we cannot be complacent. We are right next to Gatwick Airport and if there is any sort of trafficking of young people going on it is likely that our taxi drivers are on the front line getting fares to ferry them from place to place.

“We want to take hard action and the training will highlight awareness of CSE and encourage them to report any concerns to the police and council.”

Drivers are expected to complete the training course, funded by the Safer Crawley Partnership and Barnado’s, this year.

The course will highlight the signs to look out for, help drivers understand why a victim may not ask for help and to be aware of how children describe where they are going and why, plus the different grooming processes. Hackney carriage drivers are fully behind the new training.

Martin Feasey, a hackney carriage driver in Crawley with 32 years’ experience, has his own policy when it comes to being asked to take fares for children.

He said: “I refuse to take a child aged under 14 who is alone, they should be accompanied by an adult. I wouldn’t say it is safe for someone that young to be going somewhere alone and I wouldn’t want to put myself in that situation.”

Bob Lawrence, a taxi driver for more than 40 years around Crawley, said: “This is a positive step. I cannot think of an occasion where I’ve ever had a young person in my taxi and felt as though something wrong was going on.

“But at the same time, even with all my years of experience, I cannot be certain that I’ve known what to look out for. This training will change that and I’m fully behind it.

“I’d hate to think I could pick up a passenger who was being groomed but if I ever did I’d want to be in the best position to spot what was happening and do something about it.”

Last year Crawley Borough Council spent £1,800 on handbooks urging taxi drivers to report concerns and what signs to look for.

Next month Sussex Police are launching a further campaign in the area to give extra support to people running and working at hotels and B&Bs to help them look out for the tell-tale signs.

Read more: http://www.crawleynews.co.uk/

Daniel Kaizen fell asleep during the minicab ride home and almost ‘spat out his tea’ when he awoke to see the route his driver took.

An Uber driver charged a drunk passenger £102.17 for a journey, after taking him on a 20-mile detour around London while he slept.

Daniel Kaizen ordered a minicab from Old Street to Wood Green, north London this weekend, a five-mile trip which he said he was told would cost around £15.

But the late-night detour around the capital meant that his journey took five times longer than he expected and the bill came to over £100.

He said that Uber has since apologised and promised to refund the money.

Mr Kaizen, 26, ordered an Uber minicab in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday morning and said that he slept most of the way back.

But instead of being driven through north London on what would have been the quickest route, he spent the night riding due east to Barking before being taken around the North Circular to his destination.

After waking up at his destination, he switched on his phone to give his driver a star rating and said “I nearly spat out my tea laughing at the route”.

Looking at his phone, he could see the round-about route the driver had taken as well as the car going beyond where he says he was dropped off.

He wrote on Facebook: “Well, I was drunk, but damn Uber, £105 for a £15 journey.”

He added on Twitter: “Great start to my Easter Monday.”

Mr Kaizen says Uber have now apologised and say they will refund the amount in the next five days.

It comes after another Uber passenger, Jonny Bee, was charged £93 for a five-minute journey after he says he was wrongly charged for a luxury car. Uber claimed the driver had forgotten to cancel the previous journey from his machine.

The highly successful app has sparked protests around the world by taxi drivers who claim that Uber’s private hire car drivers are not subject to the same level of regulation as they are.

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

An Uber minicab has been seized by police investigating the murder of Glasgow shopkeeper Asad Shah - who was stabbed to death after wishing friends and customers a “very happy Easter”.

The grey Volkswagan Passat mini-cab with Uber branding in the windscreen was parked opposite “man of peace” Mr Shah’s shop in Glasgow, where he was killed just four hours after posting his Easter message to “my beloved Christian nation”.

The vehicle - a private hire cab registered with the city council in Bradford, 200 miles from Glasgow - was within the police cordon set up at the crime scene and was removed by police forensic officers wearing white protective suits.

The forensic officers slowly drove a recovery truck into the cordon and winched the private hire saloon cab onto the back of it before driving away.

It’s believed the vehicle, which is feared to have transported Mr Shah’s killer to the scene, is now undergoing forensic testing.

The vehicle seizure happened at 2.30pm on Friday afternoon outside Mr Shah’s shop on Minard Road in the Shawlands area of Glasgow but has only just come to light.

News of the seizure comes 24 hours after reports that Mr Shah’s killer had travelled to Scotland from Bradford.

An Uber spokesman said yesterday that the car was registered to a private hire cab driver in Bradford who last used the Uber app on Monday March 21.

The spokesman said the car had not been used for any Uber trips in Glasgow and said any driver given a private hire licence by Bradford City Council had to pass enhanced DBS disclosure tests.

Police Scotland yesterday refused to comment on the seizure of the vehicle.

Meanwhile a crowdfunding site set up to raise money for Mr Shah’s family has reached £70,000 thanks to donations from across Britain and further afield.

Police said on Friday that Mr Shah’s death was being treated as “religiously prejudiced”.

source: http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/