FIT AND PROPER


BUCKS TAXI DRIVER FINED FOR HIRING DURING HENLEY REGATTA


A Buckinghamshire hackney carriage driver has been convicted of illegally plying for hire at Henley Regatta. On 13 January, Oxford Magistrates’ Court heard how during last year’s Regatta, officers from South Oxfordshire DC saw Zaheer Choudhry’s Bucks Council- licensed HCV parked on


Thameside in Henley. HCVs licensed outside the district cannot pick customers up off the street without a booking through a licensed private hire operator. One officer approached and asked Mr Choudhry if he could take them to High Wycombe Railway Station. Mr Choudhry replied saying he was


available and could do the journey immediately for £40 or £50. Mr Choudhry,


Wycombe, pleaded guilty


46, from High to


illegally plying for hire. The magistrates imposed a fine of £183 and awarded costs to the district council of £1,374 with an additional £73 victim surcharge.


UNLICENSED AND UNINSURED BRADFORD MAN WHO USED VEHICLE TWICE AS A PHV ESCAPES BAN


A Bradford driver used a vehicle twice without the licence to do so and without insurance but has escaped a ban. Mohammed Urrehman, 46, was sentenced at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court on December 12, 2022 for two counts of being the proprietor of a PHV without a current section 48 licence and two counts of using a vehicle on a road or public place without third party insurance.


Urrehman pleaded guilty to the charges back on August 8 last year. The court ordered Urrehman to pay £660 for the offences of being the proprietor of a vehicle used as a PHV without a current licence. This included a £500 fine, surcharge of £50 and £110 in costs. Urrehman had his driving record endorsed with six penalty points for driving without insurance on two occasions but avoided a


totting-up disqualification due to mitigating circumstances. The court decided he would suffer “exceptional hardship” if he was to be banned from driving, for three reasons: Urrehman would lose his job or another job involving driving if he can’t work as a taxi driver; his family depend on him to drive them around; and he would not be able to pay the mortgage and would lose the family home.


YORK CARS MANAGER HAS BID FOR NEW PRIVATE HIRE OPERATORS’ LICENCE REFUSED


A manager at York Cars has had his bid for a new taxi operator's licence refused. Bilal Hussain Iqbal applied to City of York Council to run Dash Private Hire from Outgang Lane in Osbaldwick. But councillors said they had “too many doubts” and concluded Mr Hussain was not a “fit and proper person” to hold an operator’s licence. The committee was told that Mr Iqbal’s driver’s badge was revoked last year due to a mobile phone


40


offence, but that this did not prevent him from applying to become an operator. In 2020, York Cars’ licence was revoked after the licensing committee decided its owner was unfit to hold the licence – but the council agreed to extend it with additional conditions on appeal. During Mr Iqbal’s latest licence hearing, councillors heard there had been complaints about taxis parking around Outgang Lane.


Proposing a rejection of Mr Iqbal’s application, Cllr Warters said: “If you’ve got an operator’s licence, you should be setting a clear example to the drivers. Showing a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road and now being banned for five years from actually holding a taxi driver’s licence – I don’t think that’s a very good example to those working for the company.” Mr Iqbal is entitled to appeal the decision via the magistrates’ court.


FEBRUARY 2023 PHTM


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