FIT AND PROPER
ILLEGAL LONDON MINICAB DRIVER IS JAILED
An illegal driver who was arrested twice on subsequent week- ends has been jailed for a total of 18 weeks. The sentence follows arrests made by the MPS Cab Enforcement Unit, part of TfL fund- ed Safer Transport Command (STC). Plain clothed police officers were carrying out roadside and com- pliance checks on minicabs in Regent Street W1, in the early hours on Friday 27 May, when Nahim Gaffer-Doud, 37, approached the offi- cers in his vehicle and asked them if they wanted a cab. He was arrested for touting for hire and further
checks revealed that he was disqualified from driving and unin- sured. He was charged and bailed to appear at West Lon- don Magistrates’ Court at a later date. But just over a week later, in the early hours of Saturday 4 June, Gaffer-Doud again approached plain clothed police offi- cers, this time in Clapham High Street SW4, and asked them if they wanted a cab. He was arrested and appeared at Camber- well Green Magistrates’ Court later that day where he pleaded guilty to touting for hire, using a motor vehicle with-
out third party insur- ance and driving whilst disqualified. Both cases were transferred to West London Magistrates’ Court and on 15 June, he was sentenced to a total of 18 weeks’ imprisonment.
Steve Burton, Direc- tor of Community Safety Enforcement and Policing at TfL, said: “The severity of the sentence given to Mr Gaffer-Doud should serve as a warning to anyone who thinks about touting in London. We will always push for the harshest punish- ment possible for those who engage in this criminal activity.”
LAPSED LICENCE PROVES COSTLY TO THURROCK CABBIE
A man was ordered to pay more than £1,000 in costs and fine after admitting driving PHV without the correct licence. Frank Bennett, from Grays, appeared before Basildon mag- istrates in June. The court heard that in September last year he had applied to Thurrock Council for the renewal of his PHV licence when it became apparent the licence had lapsed in
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the previous February. As a result licensing officers attended the Z Carz business premis- es and obtained a record of all private hire work carried out by the vehicle during this period. The print- out was 65 pages long and revealed that dur- ing the 225 days the vehicle was used on 186 - on some days as many as 46 times. Mr Bennett wrote to the council apologis- ing for the oversight
and later admitted under caution that he was the operator of the business and that the vehicle had been used as a PHV without a licence.
The offence was not committed deliberate- ly, but Mr Bennett accepted that he was the person responsi- ble for the offence. Bennett was fined £350 and ordered to pay a £15 Victim Sur- charge and full costs of £822.
BERWICK TAXI DRIVER IN LANDMARK PROSECUTION
A Berwick taxi driver has been banned from driving after being convicted of illegally plying for hire in an uninsured vehicle after picking up a fare in Gateshead.
Muhammad Khurram, a hackney carriage driver licensed with Berwick Upon Tweed Borough Council (now Northumberland Council), was caught in a routine undercov- er operation staged by Gateshead Council’s licensing team last October to tackle ille- gal plying for hire. Mr Khurram, who was driving a Newcastle PHV, was hailed by three licensing officers as he drove through Gateshead to see if it would stop to pick them up - which he did. Mr Khurram then
took them to a local hotel and charged them for the journey. The licensing officers identified themselves and formally cautioned Mr Khurram. However, further inquiries re- vealed that Mr Khurram had given false driver identification, did not have a licence to drive Newcastle PHVs and was not named as a driver on the private hire vehicle’s policy of insurance.
Muhammad Khurram was ordered to attend Gateshead Magis- trates’ Court on 19 July 2011 to face charges of plying for hire out- side of his licensed area and of operating without proper insur- ance, but did not attend and was sen- tenced in his absence. Gateshead Magis-
trates sentenced him to a fine of £525 with six penalty points for operating without insurance. He was also ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge and costs of £236.12. There was no separate penalty for the offence of illegally plying for hire.
In addition, Mr Khur- ram was disqualified from driving for six months as a result of the totting up proce- dure. He therefore became the first per- son to be disqualified from driving as a result of legal action taken by Gateshead Council. Mr Khurram is also the first Berwick taxi driver to be convicted of ille- gally plying for hire and driving without insurance in Gates- head.
PHTM AUGUST 2011
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