Forty-nine-year-old Nader Rohbani-Eivazi was handed the fine by Cardiff magistrates after he refused to accept Janice Powers’ Labrador, Wayne, at a taxi rank in the Cardiff Bay area of the city.
Ironically, Powers had been attending the launch of an equality and diversity initiative at the National Assembly buildings,
She said: “It was late and we were cold and wanted to get home, but when approached the lead hackney carriage for a lift the driver just said: ‘Four people but no dog’.
“We were flabbergasted, especially as he had disabled stickers on display.
“But when we pointed out that he would be breaking the law if he refused to take my guide dog he just said: ‘Take me to court’.”
Luckily, Powers - who was travelling with three other women - found another driver who was amenable to ferrying guide dogs, and the party made its train.
After she contacted
Cardiff Council, the authority took enforcement action against Rohbani-Eivazi.
He was handed the fine, with costs of £415, for breaking the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
The action was supported by several blind charities, including RNIB Cymru, which works on behalf of the 100,000 people in Wales with serious sight loss.
Director Sarah Rochira said that the outcome provided “a clear message to people providing services - that they must treat people with respect and dignity”.
the BBC reports, and was trying to get back to the station in time to make the final train home to Carmarthen, in west Wales.
source: http://www.elephant.co.uk/
Worth exploring
WISBECH taxi driver Karen Chapman has won an appeal to keep her hackney carriage driver’s licence.
Ms Chapman - who has been driving taxis for 12 years - was refused a new licence when Fenland District Council discovered she had failed to declare points put on her driving record by a court last year.
When she applied for her licence to be renewed, Ms Chapman had circled the word “No” when asked if she had any criminal convictions - but she did submit her driving licence that clearly showed she had six points.
Appearing before District Judge Ken Sheraton sitting at Wisbech Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, Ms Chapman, of Outwell admitted she had made a false declaration on the application form.
At the time she made the application, Ms Chapman’s son was in hospital; she was looking after her disabled mother and her other children, and was working.
She said: “I really didn’t do any of this intentionally.” The points were put on her licence for an offence of failing to name a driver who committed a speeding offence.
Solicitor Steve McGregor said: “My client has been careless in the way she dealt with the paperwork. But I submit that carelessness should not disqualify her from holding a hackney carriage drivers licence, because that would be a disproportionate penalty for what she has done. She filled the form in wrongly, rather intending to deceive.”
Licensing officer Kim Winterton said there had been no problems with Ms Chapman’s driving; but her original licence had required her to disclose any court convictions.
The Judge said: “It was a serious case of carelessness, bearing in mind that she should have told the licensing committee back in March 2009 when she got an endorsement, and again failed to notify the authority when she completed her application.
“I then look to the proportionality of withholding a licence and livelihood from someone with previously no problems. It would not be proportionate to withhold the licence.
source: http://www.cambstimes.co.uk/
He has now been deported after his illegal status was discovered.
The council is now working with the UK Border Agency to check the immigration status of every worker who holds or applies for a taxi driving licence.
Previously it had carried out only its own ‘fit and proper persons’ test and left the immigration checks to employers.
The checks will be applied to all non-EU passport holders and are part of new national standards being brought in across the country.
David Jago, the council’s environmental services manager said: ‘Our policy was the same as the rest of the country.
‘And now we are checking all of our taxi-driving non-English nationals with the UK Border Agency.
‘I am more than confident that we won’t have any within the space of a couple of months.’
The council said it had not previously been advised to do the checks by the UK Border Agency.
Mark Hook, leader of Gosport Borough Council, added: ‘The local authority only checked the licensing application - our role was to see if they were a fit and proper person.
‘But now it’s the role of the council to check if they are an illegal immigrant or not. We have to do more stringent tests and checks.
‘It’s right that we try and clamp down where we can.’
Dave Elsey, who runs Gosport-based firm Dave’s taxis, said he had been shocked to discover the driver had not been checked.
‘I think it’s absolutely disgusting,’ he said.
‘It’s not only our safety, it’s our families’ safety, and the members of the public. We don’t know what his background is.
‘We all do find it a bit of a shock.’
Portsmouth City Council and Fareham Borough Council said they had already been working with the UK Border Agency for several months to ensure drivers were in the country legally. Havant Borough Council said it had been operating the scheme for two years.
All councils now receive advice from the agency to ensure drivers are legally allowed to work.
source: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/
A TAXI driver who answered his mobile phone while driving has been stripped of his licence.
Kevin Gamble said he took the call to hear test results for his sick son.
But Cheltenham councillors refused to be persuaded and chose to revoke his right to drive a Hackney carriage.
He was hauled in front of the borough council’s licensing committee after he was stopped by police on Gold Cup day in March.
Mr Gamble asked for clemency but councillors said they had to take into account the fact he was also banned from the roads in 2008.
The committee heard that the taxi driver usually wore a hands-free phone kit while behind the wheel, but discovered it was broken the day before the Gold Cup.
With the town packed with tourists, he delayed getting a new one until after the climax to the Cheltenham Festival.
Mr Gamble said his son, who has now been diagnosed with asthma, went to hospital on the morning of race day and he was anxiously waiting to hear the doctors’ verdict.
“I was expecting a phone call from my ex-partner,” he said.
“The phone rang and I answered. It was Gold Cup day so it was busy and the traffic wasn’t flowing, although I know that isn’t an excuse.
“I was trying to find somewhere to pull over and within 200 yards I saw the lights and the police pulled me over.”
Mr Gamble told councillors he loved his job.
“I need it because I have got a holiday booked next month for me and my children,” he said.
“It is the first one we have had in four years, but if I lose my licence I will not be able to afford it.
“I will never make this mistake again.”
At the committee meeting, chairman Diggory Seacombe said: “I’m afraid it is not your day, Mr Gamble.
“We’ve heard what you have told us, but unfortunately the vote has gone against you.”
Although Mr Gamble was only called before the committee because of the phone offence, councillors were obliged to take into account his previous misdemeanours.
In 2006, he was stopped twice for ignoring traffic signals and was then caught speeding in a 30mph zone in 2007 and 2008.
He was disqualified from driving for six months in 2008 after speeding again.
Councillors voted by six to one to revoke his licence.
source: http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/cheltenham/
A TAXI driver fears he will lose his house after having his cab licence taken away.
Mark Robinson, 51, of Ellacombe, pleaded with the council’s licensing sub-committee not to revoke his private hire badge as a result of a criminal conviction handed down by magistrates.
He had been convicted for battery after hitting a man during a petrol forecourt row.
The council was asked to consider whether, following the conviction, he was a fit and proper person to hold a badge in Torbay.
After deliberating for half an hour the committee decided to uphold a 28-day suspension and revoke his licence for 12 months.
Following the meeting Mr Robinson said: “This is the only job I can do. I will probably lose my house because I won’t be able to pay the mortgage, rent and bills.
”I have apologised for what happened and hoped that would be enough. I’m desperately disappointed and don’t know what I will do next.”
In April, Mr Robinson pleaded guilty to an offence of battery after punching another driver at the garage in Hele Road.
He told the committee he had hit the man during a row after the stranger drove in front of him to the pump, then walked quickly towards him. He was fined £400, but magistrates refused to order compensation, recognising that there had been some provocation.
Mr Robinson told the committee of three councillors: “I’ve worked as a taxi driver for over ten years and as a taxi driver I have never ever been involved in any argument with the public and have always walked away from problems. This one time I just lost it for a split second and I have apologised for that.”
He was supported by the former general manager of Torbay Taxis, Paul Price, who told the committee he had ‘never had to question’ Mr Robinson’s integrity and would not hesitate to employ him again.
”This is his last chance saloon,” he said.
The committee was reminded that in 2006 it had given Mr Robinson a warning after he was convicted of common assault and a public order offence.
A council officer returning the committee’s verdict said the licence would be revoked until April 30, 2011.
She added: “Members noted that he had been warned about his future conduct in 2006, and couldn’t be satisfied that Mr Robinson remains a fit and proper person.”
Mr Price said afterwards: “It’s wrong. He has two replacement hips and can’t do anything else. In effect it is a three-year ban because the next time he applies they will run a criminal records check and the conviction will not have cleared by then.
”Now, instead of being a taxpayer he is just another statistic on the unemployment list.
”If taxi drivers came to the council every time we were assaulted, robbed, racially or verbally abused then the courts would be full. It is a very unfair system.”
source: http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/news/
Taxi driver Mark Selley
New taxi drivers from abroad who come to work in Preston cannot be checked for criminal convictions.
Taxi and licensing chiefs at Preston Council have spent more than six months investigating what can be done about the lack of Criminal Records Bureau checks in some Middle Eastern and Eastern European countries.
Bosses simply receive a statement from these countries saying that a person is fit to be employed.
But some have no system of checking for criminal convictions. There are up to 600 licensed Hackney carriage and private hire drivers in the city.
Councillors say only a very small number are affected by the problem.
There is no suggestion that any driver currently working in the city as a taxi driver has an undisclosed criminal record from overseas.
Today trade chiefs suggested that new drivers from countries where there are no CRB checks should be given interim licenses which are reviewed more often.
Mark Selley, secretary of the Preston Hackney Carriage Association, said: “I consider it vitally important to make sure that people with the right credentials are doing the job because we are often taking home young, vulnerable people.
“In this country we have CRB checks and I suppose over time these new drivers will acquire their own CRB records.
“In the meantime, I would like to see interim badges given instead of full ones.
“My licence is reviewed every 12 months. It may be more prudent to give these people badges that can be reviewed every three months.”
Coun David Hammond, chairman of the council’s taxi sub-committee, said: “We can’t get them because the countries they are coming from don’t have such things as CRB checks.
“The only thing we get will say as far as they are aware they are considered fit enough for employment.
“We can’t get more information than that and we just have to accept it.
“CRB checks are vital. It is the only way we have of really knowing if there is anything wrong, but of course if someone comes from a European country and wants a job as a taxi driver we cannot act as judge and jury if they have a UK driving licence.
“A couple of committee members had concerns about it which got us all thinking.
“We pushed it all the way to the Home Office to see if anything could be done; we didn’t just let it go.”
source: http://www.lep.co.uk/news/
New taxi drivers in South Staffordshire will have to pass an extra driving test – and prove they can speak English – before being allowed to get behind the wheel, under plans revealed today.
Until now, drivers in the district have only had to hold a normal driving licence for one year before being granted their taxi licence.
But from July, all new drivers will have to pass a 40-minute exam and prove their understanding of English before being allowed to carry passengers.
South Staffordshire Council is one of the only local authorities in the region that has had no form of test for new taxi drivers – with Wolverhampton, Dudley, Birmingham, Shropshire, Cannock and Walsall Councils already running similar schemes.
Under the plans, drivers will not be tested on driving skills but on their knowledge of rules and regulations for licensed taxis.
The multiple choice exam will cover the highway code, taxi hire law and the council’s drivers and private hire vehicle conditions.
A score of 30 out of 50 will be a pass and anyone who fails will be allowed two more chances before being banned from trying for three months.
The plans are outlined in a new document on taxi and private hire licensing policies which is due to be passed by the licensing committee on June 1.
Councillor Kathleen Perry, chairman of the committee, said: “Our primary concern is always to make sure that our taxis and private hire vehicles are safe and that those licensed to drive them have the knowledge and understanding of the rules relating to taxis and private hire vehicles and the Highway Code as well as a sufficient level of English to be able to transport people safely.”
The 322 drivers already licensed by South Staffordshire Council will not have to pass the new test unless they lose their licence. Other changes include plans to allow any coloured vehicles to become a private hire taxi.
Dark vehicles were previously deemed too similar to hackney carriages.
In Wolverhampton cabbies want a change in the rule to ban foreign drivers from getting licences for at least five years.
Nasim Ullah, chairman of the Wolverhampton Hackney Carriage Drivers Association, said he did not believe recent arrivals in Britain should be able to pass criminal background checks without having lived in the country for a long time.
Spokesman: Mark Selley
A sex attacker and a drug dealer are among dozens of convicted criminals to have been granted taxi licences in Lancashire.
Others who have been given hackney cab or private hire licences by local council committees have convictions for offences including serious assaults, arson, wounding, harassment and violent disorder.
Two drivers licenced by Lancaster Council two years ago each had 33 previous convictions, including for actual bodily harm (ABH), stealing from cars, burglary and assaulting a police officer.
Another cabbie had committed an indecent assault on a woman, while one had a record for supplying cannabis.
The figures were revealed through a series of Freedom of Information requests to a number of Lancashire councils.
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act - a law which means job applicants do not have to declare certain convictions after a period of years - does not apply to hackney and private hire applicants, meaning licensing committees know about their past.
Only Fylde and Lancaster councils said they were able to provide details of drivers’ convictions. Other local authorities we approached said no records were kept after initial Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks or blamed data protection rules for not disclosing details.
Fylde Council said it currently has 424 licenced drivers, 28 of whom have criminal convictions.
One of their drivers committed 31 burglary and theft offences during the 1980s.
In Preston, Imran Lambat, 27, was caught illegally driving a taxi while banned from the roads in 2007, after private hire bosses failed to carry out proper checks.
Mark Selley of Preston Hackney Carriage Association said cabbies with criminal convictions were very much in the minority.
He said: “We are subject to CRB checks and anyone with a record has to go before the licensing committee.
“They take every case on its merits and there are rigorous checks in place to make sure people with convictions who could pose a risk to the public are kept out.”
Luke Gorst, solicitor for Lancaster Council, said: “Each case is taken on its own merits given the individual circumstances.
“Above all, the committee always takes into account the fact that the purpose of the taxi licensing system is to protect members of the public who travel in taxis.”
A spokesman for Fylde Council said: “The Fylde policy is stricter than national guidelines.
“We do have drivers with previous convictions but they are generally for minor offences committed many years ago.”
source: http://www.lep.co.uk/news/
This newspaper is asking for information about taxi drivers who come before a committee of councillors.
We have made it clear we are NOT asking for personal details of the drivers, but WHY they have been brought before the committee.
The group of five councillors meet each month to either review applications to become a taxi driver, or to revoke or suspend Hackney Carriage or private hire licences for disciplinary matters.
The council’s Hackney Carriage officer is given powers to issue licences so the mere fact individuals are being brought before the committee is, we believe, of interest to the public.
The WHT asked for 1, the nature of the policy contraventions or offences 2, the Hackney Carriage officer’s recommendations to the committee and 3, the decision reached by the committee.
The council failed to answer the three individual questions and issued a blanket response.
It included: “The council takes the view that it is appropriate in the circumstances to exempt that information from the reports which are made available to the public.
“The committee has to balance the needs of the public with the rights of the individual concerned.”
WHT editor Terry Mitchinson said: “The council’s response is unreasonable. We are not asking for individual’s details. The committee may be acting in the best interest of the public, but we have no way of knowing as all meetings are held in secret.
“Court cases are open to the public, but we aren’t even asking for access to the meetings, we just want to know why people are being suspended or banned from driving taxis.”
source; http://www.whtimes.co.uk/news/
A CABBIE has been stripped of his taxi licence – because he has too many criminal convictions.
The Hackney Carriage and private hire driver was hauled before Stoke-on-Trent City Council for a review of his licence. Now councillors have revoked the taxi licence of the un-named driver. Discussions of the convictions were held in private.
But a council report states: “The applicant had a pattern of motoring and other convictions over a long period of time. Despite receiving a strict warning as to his future conduct when the licence was granted, the applicant has continued to acquire serious convictions.”
Another driver has had his Hackney Carriage and private hire licence suspended because of an unspecified motoring conviction.
He has been told to pass the £78 Driving Standards Agency test for cabbies before he can try to get his licence back.
The council report states: “Due to the motoring conviction, which raised concerns for public safety, the panel felt the applicant needed to refresh their driving skills.”
Another driver has had his licence suspended until he passes a local knowledge test.
