IN THE NEWS
STOKE TAXI DRIVER PUNCHED OAP WHO COMPLAINED ABOUT CAB BLOCKING PAVEMENT IN RESTRICTED PARKING ZONE
Taxi driver Waqas Ahmad punched a pensioner who com- plained about his cab blocking the pave- ment in a restricted parking zone during the school run. Now Ahmed, 31, has been jailed for 12 months at Stoke-on- Trent Crown Court. Prosecutor Richard McConaghy said: “There have been ongoing problems
with cars blocking the road for resi- dents and there are parking restrictions at school times. “The defendant was a taxi driver and had parked his taxi half on the pavement and half on the road, making it hard for him to get past. “The defendant was putting one of the children in the back of his taxi when a
Waqas Ahmed
THUG WHO SAVAGELY BEAT TEESSIDE TAXI DRIVER LET OFF
A taxi driver was savagely beaten - but the alleged at- tacker wasn’t pros- ecuted after no evi- dence was offered in an seemingly alarming miscar- riage of justice. According to Tees- sideLive,
cabbie
Umar Farooq was “viciously assaulted” while transporting a passenger and he rang 999 in a des- perate bid for help. But he was told police were too busy to come out, meaning a manager from Tees Valley Cabs rushed to the scene at 4pm on a recent Friday after- noon. Then incredibly, when the case came
before Teesside Magistrates’ Court in December, it was thrown out and the accused man was acquitted, with no evidence offered. The defendant did- n’t turn up - but rather than issue a warrant for him to be arrested and brought to court, Magistrates refused. This meant no visual comparison could be made with the footage and the accused man - leav- ing him to get off. Firm owner Mo- hammed Zaroof, has been left furious and believes drivers are “putting their lives at risk” with no protection from the authorities.
Mr Zaroof said it took Cleveland Police ten days to acknowledge the in- cident and ultimate- ly the video footage was never used to help get a conviction. “The police have done absolutely nothing,” he said. “There’s drivers out there who are work- ing, they are not protected by the police. “This was 4pm in the afternoon and not one officer turned up. They said they were too busy, not one policeman has been out to see me. “This man assaulted this driver, we have the footage. “How’s this justice? This is shocking.”
72-year-old resident approached and told him he could not park there bet- ween 2pm to 4pm. “According to the victim, the defen- dant told him to ‘**** off, and punched him in his left eye. The man stumbled backwards. He was bleeding from his face. “The defendant got back in his car.
Police attended and he was arrested.” The victim went to hospital with a frac- tured eye socket and a facial fracture. His face is still swollen and he suf- fers pain. He said the surgeons have told him he needs an operation but have not performed one due to his age. Ahmed, from Stoke, pleaded guilty to
inflicting grievous bodily harm. Andrew Bennett, mitigating, said the defendant, who has no previous convic- tions, will lose his job as a taxi driver and urged Judge David Fletcher to suspend the sen- tence.
But the judge said the only appropriate sentence was an immediate jail term.
SEFTON COUNCIL RECEIVES FAKE TRAINING CERTIFICATES EVERY WEEK
Sefton Council said it has received fake training certificates from potential taxi driver applicants. At a Licensing and Regulatory Commit- tee meeting on Jan- uary 6, members heard the council received on average one fake training certificate a week since last October. According to the Liverpool Echo, the potential drivers are providing fraudulent “Level 2 Introduc- tion to the Role of the Professional Taxi and Private Hire Driver” VRQ qualifi- cations. The local authority also said it was aware of three bo- gus training pro-
viders in the North West who produce the certificates, but there may be more. Councillors heard the 12 fraudulent certificates were “so poor they were easy to spot” and the applicants were re- fused a licence. Council officer Mark Toohey said the local authority cur- rently accepted cer- tificates from any training provider but carried out their own checks. However, Cllr Mich- ael O’Brien asked: “Is there any possi- bility that there is a better way of copy- ing the certificates?” Mr Toohey respond- ed by saying it was “absolutely possi-
ble” and said they can check via organ- isations but it was not always possible to be aware of the bogus ones.
He added that the local authority could “exercise more con- trol” and “feel they need to go further” over the matter. To do this members approved recom- mendations to accept certificates from council-approved training providers only that “have ac- credited status.” It means training providers will under- go regular monitor- ing and auditing from the council. The scheme is set to be introduced in March/April this year.
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FEBRUARY 2020
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