FIT AND PROPER...
INAPPROPRIATE “FREE RIDE” COMMENT SEES BURY DRIVER’S LICENCE REVOKED
A taxi driver who made inappropriate comments to a young woman, turn- ed off his fare meter and offered her a “free ride”, has had his licence revoked. According to the Bury Times, Bury Council took imme- diate action against the driver after the licensing authority found that he was being investigated by the police for another incident. The unnamed driver was also known to Rochdale Council, which revoked his licence following similar allegations last year. Licensing unit man- ager Michael Bridge told councillors last month about the decision which was
taken on January 29 – a day after the young woman’s complaint was re- ceived.
He said: “The deci- sion was taken, in consultation with the chairman of the licensing and safety panel, to revoke his licence with imme- diate effect on the grounds of public safety.” Cllr Steve Wright said he was “shocked” about the incident and asked why information was not being shared between licensing departments across council boundaries. He said: “The inci- dent with the Bury driver could have been avoided if we had the information from Rochdale.”
Mr Bridge explained that there is a national register of refusals and revoca- tions which local authorities have started using. The system, known as NR3, is being actively promoted in Greater Manchester. But Mr Bridge said it may be a while until this new way of working takes full effect.
He said: “Unfortu- nately, at the mo- ment there’s a slow uptake across auth- orities. The idea is that we put five years’ backlog on the register. But there’s a process to go through. “The people on the register will have to receive a letter to tell them that they
WOMAN DROVE TAXI WITHOUT A LICENCE IN DURHAM
A woman is facing a legal bill of almost £1,500 for driving a taxi without a licence or insurance. According to the Northern Echo, Lor- raine Ferguson was investigated follow- ing a complaint about her driving from a member of the public. They had com- plained that Ferg- uson had unexpect- edly pulled in front of their car on July 9.
He had had to brake harshly in poor weather, and with
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his children in the car, to narrowly avoid an accident with Ferguson. Checks by Durham County Council re- vealed that her hackney carriage licence had expired several weeks earli- er. As a result of the licence expiring, Ferguson’s insur- ance was also in- valid. Ferguson, 43, con- firmed she had been driving the car at the time of the inci- dent. When inter- viewed under cau- tion she admitted
that she had stopped working as a taxi driver and claimed that surren- dering her licence had slipped her mind. Ferguson, from Chester-le-Street, failed to attend Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court. The case was heard in her absence and she was fined £1,100. Ferguson was also ordered to pay £357 court costs and a £66 victim sur- charge. Eight points will also be added to her driving licence.
are going on and then there’s a pro- cess which I won’t go into now. The intention is that everyone is regis- tered on that in Greater Manchester. “But we can’t go on a fishing expedition.” Bury Council’s head of trading standards and licensing Angela Lomax added: “As soon as that infor- mation came to
light, we had a dis- cussion and took that decision.” Mmmm… Bury Coun- cil has taken the correct approach to dealing with this driver, based on information they had to hand at the time. The fact that the NR3 register is bogged down by administrative night- mares – never mind the fact that councils
put only five years’ backlog on the regis- ter – surely renders the entire process meaningless and unfunctional. At the present time over 90 per cent of local authorities have reg- istered on the NAFN network, so the uptake hasn’t been as slow as the ability of local councils to access the informa- tion. – Ed.
BANBURY TAXI DRIVER LIED ABOUT HIS CRIMINAL PAST
A convicted criminal could have been driving unknowing passengers around in his taxi after lying to the council about his past. According to the Wit- ney Gazette, Ifraan Mahmood, from Ban- bury, did not tell Cherwell District
Council about his previous convictions for a year between October 15, 2017 and October 31, 2018. The 30-year-old was found guilty of fraud by false repre- sentation after a trial at Oxford Mag- istrates’ Court on December 16.
The court heard how he had committed fraud by lying and intending to make some money on the back of it. He was slapped with a £500 fine, and ordered to pay £800 in court costs. He must also pay a vic- tim surcharge of £50.
LUTON MAN FINED FOR ILLEGALLY TOUTING FOR TAXI BUSINESS
A man who illegally touted for taxi busi- ness at London Luton Airport has been fined £1,124. Muhammad Sajid, 46, from Luton, has also been disquali- fied from driving for three months after an operation by Bedfordshire Police’s airport policing team. Plain clothed and uniformed officers were patrolling the drop-off zone at the airport on 12 Nov-
ember when Sajid approached a plain clothed officer and offered them a taxi. Sajid attempted to flee the scene but was detained. CCTV showed Sajid had been touting for business for around an hour before being caught. PC Dominic Tembey, from the airport policing team, told Luton Today: “These illegal taxi touts are taking money dir-
ectly from hard working drivers who follow the rules. “We have seen thefts and even vio- lence in this area linked to taxi touts and it is important we target drivers like Sajid in order to keep people safe. “This sentence should serve as a warning to people consider- ing doing this – there are no excus- es, you will be caught and punished.”
APRIL 2020
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