FIT AND PROPER
GLASGOW TAXI DRIVER WHO FAILED TO GIVE ROADSIDE BREATH TEST WARNED OVER CONDUCT
A taxi driver who was fined after failing to provide a roadside breath test has been warned over his future conduct. Glasgow’s licensing committee decided to renew Duffin Taxi & Co’s taxi vehicle licence for three years, but issued the warning after hearing about Gurcharan Sidhu’s conviction from Police Scotland. Councillors heard the driver had been fined £250 and given points
following an incident in September 2020 where Mr Sidhu had failed to cooperate with a breath test after a suspected traffic offence. The driver had not reported his conviction to the council’s licensing team. Mr Sidhu’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, said there had been “no sufficiency” for a dangerous driving charge as his client’s car had skidded, causing him to crash. He said the driver had been unable
to provide a roadside test due to his asthma but had agreed to attend a police station to give a specimen and that his client had been found guilty on a “technical basis”. The lawyer added Mr Sidhu does not drink alcohol, has no previous convictions and “is the sole provider for his family”. “The loss of the licence would be detrimental to him and his family,” Mr Anwar said.
YORK CABBIE FAILS IN CONTAMINATED VAPE PEN BID TO END DRUG DRIVING LICENCE BAN
A cabbie who claimed he was the unwitting victim of a con- taminated vape pen has failed to get his driving licence back after he was caught drug driving. Timothy Duckitt, 58, was “stoned” on cannabis as he drove much faster than the speed limit, York Crown Court heard. He was convicted of drug driving and banned from driving at York Magistrates' Court last year but he appealed to the higher court to have his ban removed. He claimed that he hadn’t realised he had cannabis in his body when he was driving. But after listening to him and a defence witness, Judge Simon Hickey and two magistrates rejected his account. Judge Hickey said Duckitt had known that he was high on drugs when he was pulled over. “He had ingested cannabis late at night, he was stoned, and the reason he was driving far too fast was he was under the influence of drugs,” he said.
PHTM FEBRUARY 2023
They dismissed Duckitt’s appeal and he remains banned from the roads and cannot work as a taxi driver. A court can exceptionally not impose a driving ban if the driver shows they could not have known they’d taken drugs before driving. Duckitt alleged that he had smoked a vape pen containing
cannabidiol (CBD) oil as a painkiller and did not think it still contained THC that his witness had just smoked in the same pen, and that he had felt fine before driving. In cross-examination, however the prosecution barrister said the drug test reading was too high to be the result of cannabis traces and the story was made up.
BRADFORD TAXI WITH PASSENGER ON BOARD SEIZED FOR NO INSURANCE
A hackney carriage was seized by police after it was stopped on a road in the Bradford district in early January. The Steerside Enforcement Team tweeted: “We stopped this licensed taxi today in Shipley. It was found to be uninsured and was seized. “The driver will be reported to court and also to
the local
authority who deal with the licensing. Rather unfortunate for the fare they had at the time.”
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