BUREAUCRACY BOWL Elsewhere this year...


It didn’t take long for the bureaucrats to interfere in a good cause as confused cabbies have been told they can’t display ‘Heroes Welcome’ stickers in their taxis - despite the scheme being supported by the council. The Derbyshire Times


reports that the stick- ers - part of a national scheme backed by Chesterfield Borough Council are meant for display in shop and taxi windows. But after a civic launch of the scheme, the council said the stickers are not


classed as “approved signage”


and can’t be displayed in taxis. January page 42. Also from January a Swansea driver is fac- ing a mammoth bill for a parking ticket after the council slapped a notice on his vehicle while he was helping an elderly passenger from his car!


NEWCASTLE UNDER LYME DRIVER GOT TICKET WHILE REPORTING CRIME


RUNNER UP


2012


despite a letter from Staffordshire Police asking them to recon- sider. Mr Choudhry has hit out at


‘jobsworth’


Taxi driver Bashir Choudhry has been hit with a fine for parking outside a police sta- tion - despite officers pleading with the council to overturn the ticket. Mr Choudhry drove to Newcastle police sta- tion to report a crime after a fare-dodging thug smashed his windscreen. He parked in a space meant for police cars after officers invited him to bring in his damaged cab for a forensic examination. But the taxi driver was furious when a parking attendant issued a £70 fine because he was ‘parked in a bay meant for police vehicles’. Now managers at Newcastle Borough Council have refused to waive the charge -


parking attendants, and said he has refused to pay. The 42-year-old told the Stoke Sentinel: “I can’t believe this has happened after the police wrote a person- al letter. “The council just don’t want to listen and now I’m the victim. I have the cost of the damage to my car to worry about, and the fine too.” Mr Choudhry called police after a cus- tomer refused to pay a fare in Knutton. The male passenger then climbed out of the taxi before smashing the windscreen. Police initially said they would have to check CCTV records, but when these failed to show the incident, Mr Choudhry was invited to bring his car to Newcastle police station to make a


statement. After


receiving the


fine, officers passed him a hand-written note to send to New- castle


Borough


Council, insisting he had their full permis- sion to park outside the station. But now the taxi driver has received a letter from the authority informing him his appeal against the fine has failed. In a letter refusing to overturn the fine, the council said:


“We


appreciate that at the time, you state you were reporting an inci- dent to the police. “However, “this bay is strictly for the use of police vehicles only.” The letter from the council


says Mr


Choudhry has 14 days to pay a reduced fine of £35 before the full £70 penalty applies. The council said Mr Choudhry had the option to make fur- ther representation to the council


if he


wished to take the matter further.


Jason Thomas from Clase said he was assisting the pension- er from his PHV after parking in Morriston’s Woodfield Street earli- er this year. After leaving her safely at her destination, he said he returned to find his vehicle had been slapped with a parking ticket. His appeal against it failed and as he refused to pay, it was passed on to a debt collection firm. And now, with just days until Christmas, he says he is being asked to pay £40 a week to meet what has grown to a bill of £220. The dad-of-three said: “My passenger was no good on her feet, so I helped her out and made sure she got to where she was going. “I explained this when I contacted the coun- cil, and said I was not prepared to pay. Now the debt has been passed on to bailiffs. “I can’t pay it all off with Christmas around the corner, and I’ve offered to pay £10 a week. “But they’ve told me if I don’t pay in full they will come and take things from my flat.” Mr Thomas claims he was away from his cab helping his passenger for around six min- utes. January page 20. And on a similar theme back in March a Ripon taxi driver has lost his fight to sup- port Britain’s injured soldiers with a Help for Heroes sticker in his cab. Councillors


have banned the district’s


taxi drivers from hav- ing charity stickers or religious symbols in their vehicles, in a bid to keep the district’s cabs “multicultural”. March page 72. Whilst England were performing with indis- tinction at the Euros, a patriotic Scarborough cabbie was told by his council


to remove


England flags from his cab. Cabbie Andrew Jenk- inson decked out his taxi in red and white to support England dur- ing the Euro 2012 championships as he drove around the York- shire seaside resort of Scarborough. But


Bridport, said his car broke down at mid- night. He got help pushing it to a safe place in Fulbrooks Lane and left a note on it saying the car had broken down. He told the Dorset Echo:


“Everywhere the 62-year-old


grandad was left stunned when council bosses ordered him to remove the flags because putting them on his car was not a “safe practice”. And when he com- plained they told him that it might lead to other cabbies display- ing flags of other nations, which could potentially


cause


offence. Ironically Andrew is a Conservative council- lor for the selfsame Scarborough Borough Council. The fuming cabbie blasted the rul- ing a “ridiculous and pathetic” and said he would defy the ban and keep flying the flags. July page 37. In August a Bridport driver got a parking fine after his car broke down in the floods is incensed after getting a parking ticket - at 5am the day after. Terry Houston, who works for Pat’s Taxis in


was flooded and [yet] the warden managed to get into town and put a ticket on my car. “We are paying his wages at 5.15 on a Sunday morning in the worst weather we have had in 35 years. August page 12. Another classic was reported by ourselves in November when a cabbie was banned from leaving an injured senior citizen’s rubbish at a tip because he pulled up in his taxi. The


85-year-oId


woman fell over at her home in New Romney last month and was only discovered when police broke into her property 48 hours later. Taxi driver Roy Gould, who takes the woman to her regular bingo sessions, decided to help her while she was in hospital. But when he took a dozen bags of her household rub- bish to the multi- million pound recy- cling centre in New Romney he was turned away because he was in a “commer- cial” vehicle. Mr Gould, who runs the Marshoppor taxi service and bus hire business, was told he should apply for a per- mit, which would take weeks


to come


through. November page 14.


TO VIEW ALL THESE STORIES IN FULL


VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.phtm.co.uk CLICK ON NEWSPAPER


GO TO ARCHIVES: CLICK ON MONTH GO TO PAGE NUMBER INDICATED ABOVE


JANUARY 2013 PHTM PAGE 57


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80