National Taxi Association

More needs to be done to clamp down on private hire drivers illegally plying for trade in Bradford, Hackney Carriage bosses have warned.

They have called for Council enforcement officers to step up late-night patrols in the city centre to crackdown on minicab drivers who tout for fares which have not been pre-booked at their offices.

The warning by Mulazam Hussain, assistant chairman of Bradford Hackney Carriage Owners’ Association, follows the jailing for ten years on Thursday of rogue cabbie Mohammed Ahmed, who twice raped a young mum he had illegally picked up in the street outside Bradford University.

Ahmed, 42, a married man, of Clifton Villas, Manningham, attacked the 19-year-old, who had been trying to get home after a night out, after he drove her to a secluded spot in Allerton. He was branded a “sexual predator” by the judge who imprisoned him.

Earlier this year Mohammed Shazad, of Brantdale Road, Heaton, was jailed for nine years in June for raping a teenage passenger in Bradford who got into his private hire vehicle in Leeds city centre.

Mr Hussain said: “When people come in our taxis they trust that they are going to get home safe. Everybody who comes in your taxi, you have responsibility for them. We have been saying to many, many authorities that it’s wrong for people to flag cars down in the street who are not proper taxis – it could be anybody driving around.

“There should be more random checks, more inspectors should be out.”

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/

A PRIVATE hire driver who illegally picked up passengers was allowed to keep his driving licence after telling magistrates his livelihood was a stake.

George Barlow, aged 48, was one of a number of private hire drivers summonsed to court following a Trading Standards “sting” in December.

The court heard that special constables in plain clothes got into taxis in the Nelson Square area as part of the operation.

Private hire vehicles are not allowed to pick up passengers unless they have been pre-booked. If they do it invalidates their insurance.

Bolton Magistrates’ Court heard that Barlow, of Cherry Tree Avenue, Farnworth, picked up the officers at 8pm on December 18 last year and took them to a pub in Blackburn Road.

The officers paid the fare and also made a note of the registration number.

The court heard that Barlow has been a taxi driver for 17 years and would lose his job if he did not have a licence.

Yesterday he pleaded guilty to plying for hire when he was not licensed as a public hackney carriage and had no insurance to cover that use.

He already had seven points on his licence, and magistrates gave him another seven.

Receiving a total of 12 points or more usually results in a ban, but magistrates decided against a ban, given his circumstances.

In an exceptional hardship plea to the court, Barlow said: “I need my licence because it is my living.

It’s a job I like doing and I have got many customers.

I will lose my job without a licence.

“This was out of character.

I have been a silly lad and made a mistake. I never want this to happen again. Coming here is an embarrassment.”

He was ordered to pay a fine and costs totalling £1,180.

Dilshad Mehmub, aged 24, of Vincent Street, Bolton, also appeared before the court yesterday.

At 12.20am on December 19, officers asked the defendant to take them to the Last Drop Village in Bromley Cross.

The journey was paid for and his registration details were noted.

Mehmub pleaded guilty to plying for hire when he was not licensed as a public hackney carriage and had no insurance to cover that use.

The court heard he was banned from driving in January for six months and no longer works as a taxi driver.

He is currently looking for a job after completing an accounting and business course.

He was ordered to pay a total of £940 and had seven points put on his licence.

Cllr Nick Peel, Bolton Council Executive member for housing, licensing and regulations, said: “Private hire drivers need to be aware that this is not allowed under regulations and our enforcement officers will be continuing to monitor the situation.

“The majority obey the rules but we will catch those who flout them.”

source: http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/

Taxi drivers and police row over casino parking

A row has broken out between Dundee taxi drivers and the police over the collection of fares outside the new G Casino — with some drivers threatening to boycott the entire city centre at kicking out time.

Graeme Stephen, chairman of the Dundee Taxi Association, hit out at the road policing team’s policy of moving drivers on from picking up punters outside the casino, on West Marketgait.

Mr Stephen complained that officers are telling drivers not to park in the clearway outside the casino but move to the other side of West Marketgait where taxis traditionally pick up the hordes of party-goers leaving Fat Sams and Liquid nightclubs.

However, Mr Stephen pointed out that that side of the carriageway is also a clearway and criticised the police for not operating a consistent policy.

He said, “We’re getting told you can’t sit outside the casino because it’s a clearway but my opinion is the police are there to uphold the law, not make it. If they are going to say stop it on one side, they should stop it on the other side for Fat Sams.

“There’s some weeks go by and nobody tries to move you but every third week or so they tell us you can’t sit here.

“Taxis sit on double yellow lines at Deja vu and the DCA. If they are going to move us on from one place, they should move us on from other places. They keep changing their mind and they are not consistent.”

Mr Stephen said moving taxis to the other side of the road is extending the queue right down West Marketgait as far as the petrol station, while encouraging people leaving the casino, often intoxicated, to cross the dual carriageway.

“Surely the situation of people crossing the road with a drink in them is far less safe than us sitting outside the casino at a time of night when taxis are about the only traffic about,” he said.

Many drivers have become so frustrated with the situation they are now threatening to boycott the city centre in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Stephen said, “A lot of taxi boys are talking about not coming into the centre of the town for a few hours and letting the people walk to them at the bottom of Lochee Road, the bottom of the Hilltown and the bottom of Perth Road, which is going to make trouble for the police.”

Inspector Alan Szwec acknowledged how much more difficult the city centre management team’s job would be were taxis to stop picking up punters in the town centre.

source: http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/

AN UNINSURED taxi driver who plied for trade in Walsall town centre has been ordered to pay nearly £800 in fines and costs and been banned from the road for six months.

Father-of-one Steven Lal admitted plying for hire and having no insurance when he appeared at Walsall Magistrates Court on July 12.

Lal, a Wolverhampton taxi driver for about seven years, already had nine penalty points on his licence and was banned under the totting up procedure.

The 42-year-old represented himself in court and told magistrates he thought he would get “a decent fare” by plying for trade in Walsall, depriving Hackney carriages of business.

He apologised for taking trade away from Hackney carriage drivers and asked to avoid a driving ban because it would cause him “exceptional hardship” as he would have to look for another job.

Lal, of Maxwell Road, All Saints, Wolverhampton, was fined £100 for having no insurance, and had his licence endorsed with six penalty points.

He was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £666.21 together with a victim surcharge fee of £15, making a total of £781.21.

There was no separate penalty for the plying for hire offence.

The case was brought to court by Walsall Council.

Lal is licensed by Wolverhampton City Council.

source: http://www.thisiswalsallonline.co.uk/news/