IN THE NEWS
GANG POSING AS LONDON CABBIES LEARNING ‘KNOWLEDGE’ TO PAY BACK JUST £36K FROM £1M DRUG EMPIRE
Three ringleaders of a £1 million cocaine- dealing ring who sold drugs across London, using couri- ers disguised as black cab drivers learning “The Know- ledge”, have been ordered to pay back only £36,000. Jay Tripp, 35, his right-hand man Joseph Maloney, 34, and Danny Ward, 35, ran the network, which had hundreds of clients and promised to deliver drugs within the hour anywhere in the capital. The Old Bailey heard they distribut- ed more than 40
kilos of cocaine worth £1.4 million across London in the space of three weeks in February 2016. They used modified mopeds fitted with “Knowledge Boards” to transport the drugs, so fake trainee cabbies could travel around unsuspected mak- ing the drug deliveries. National Crime Agency offi- cers caught the gang with more than 10 kilos of drugs, 100 mobile phones and six mopeds in a lock-up garage. They also uncovered
A modified scooter similar to the ones used by the gang
a text message, sent to more than 400 potential clients, advertising that they could deliver “within 30 mins cen-
tral London and within an hour any- where else”. In court last month, Judge Nicholas Cooke QC put con-
fiscation orders on Tripp, Maloney and Ward, saying they had each benefited from more than £1 million in proceeds from the drugs enterprise. However, Maloney was ordered to pay back just £26,346. Tripp must repay £4,430 and Ward was told to hand back £5,625. The money has to be paid within the next three months. Twelve other mem- bers of the cocaine ring have already been jailed for a total of almost 70 years. Tripp, of Fyfield in Essex, who
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTS MOOTED FOR BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN TAXI DRIVERS
English language tests could be intro- duced for pros- pective taxi drivers. According to the Lancashire Tele- graph, fears were raised that safe- guarding awareness training for taxi drivers in Blackburn with Darwen could have fallen on deaf ears due to the lan- guage barrier. That was the view of Cllr Roy Davies, Lib Dem member for Sudell, who voiced concerns that many taxi drivers working in the borough may not have properly understood the training. Licensing officers have been working
30
with the safeguard- ing team to deliver the training to the majority of the bor- ough's taxi drivers. But Cllr Davies expressed concern some drivers’ Eng- lish was not up to scratch, meaning they would not understand the training. He said: “As far as the training every- one has to go through – are we 100 per cent certain the drivers do actu- ally understand in terms of the lan- guage? “They could just be sat there nodding and not actually understand the course itself.
“When we have drivers attending the committee, quite a few bring someone to speak on their behalf because they just don’t understand. “I am worried that some of the drivers don’t understand the training and what they are agree- ing to.” Committee chair, Cllr John Wright, said: “Many drivers can’t put themselves across as well as they should do in a committee meet- ing.If it is the view of the new committee after elections in May that they want to review the criteria drivers have to fulfil
and want to intro- duce a language test in there, you can put that out to consultation.” Committee mem- bers heard taxi drivers had to take a written test
in
English at the end of the training and that it was not just a case of multiple choice. The meeting at Blackburn Town Hall was told about 900 drivers had under- gone the training and if any of them did not understand it, it was their responsibility to flag it up with officers. The last training ses- sion was held in January and there are just a small num-
ber of taxi drivers in the borough yet to complete the course. Members heard if the stragglers did not complete the training soon they would be in danger of having their licence revoked. Many areas have introduced safe- guarding awareness training after a num- ber of cases of child sexual exploitation involving taxi drivers across the country. In order to hold a Blackburn with Dar- wen private hire licence,
drivers are
expected to have reasonably good c ommunication skills and must have held a full UK/EU
driving licence for at least a year. They must also pass a DBS check, under- take a practical driving test, under- take a driver training course and pass a knowledge test. Drivers are required to have knowledge of the licence condi- tions attached to the appropriate driver and vehicle licences. And they must obtain a certificate of medical fitness from a GP once they have passed the knowledge test, undertaken the driv- er training course and undertaken the relevant assess- ments.
APRIL 2018
also admitted deal- ing heroin, was jailed for 16 and a half years in Decem- ber 2016. Maloney, from Shoreditch, was jailed for 15 years; and Ward, from Beckenham, got eight years. Daniel Harris, the boyfriend of The Only Way Is Essex star Cara Kilbey, was acquitted by a jury of helping to run the drugs operation. But he was given a two- year jail sentence for possession of crimi- nal property, after admitting that he knew some of his friends were drug dealers.
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