PROTEST PLIGHT
NEWTON ABBOT CABBIE REPLACES STICKER - WITH NEW, BIGGER ONE
A Newton Abbot cab- bie at the centre of a ‘local’ St George’s Cross row changed the flag stickers on her vehicle - rather than taking them off - but has now removed them completely. Denise Said, 56, peeled off her ‘local driver’ St George Cross stickers, after she lost her appeal to retain them, but replaced them with bigger St George’s flag stickers with the words ‘local taxi com- pany’ written below the flags. However she has had a change of heart and now taken them off.
Denise told the Torquay Herald Ex- press: “I was very
upset about it and removed them under protest because I don’t believe that I have done anything wrong. “But this is my liveli- hood and I can’t afford to lose my taxi licence. “I feel like I have let people down but I do want to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported me.
Messages have come from all over the world and I feel honoured to have had so much goodwill.
The move came after the council’s appeals committee ruled that Denise had to remove the stickers or have her licence suspend- ed.
They said it was the Elstree Insurance Ltd
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FSA No: 504901
combination of the flag and the wording that caused concern. The appeal to retain the signage was heard at Teignbridge Coun- cil’s regulatory and appeals committee on Monday November 25. The committee agreed the signs did not meet requirements of its hackney carriage and private hire licensing policy or the Equality Act 2010. Rod Peers, speaking on behalf of Mrs Said, told the committee the stickers were not dis- criminatory and had nothing to do with
race or nationality. A spokesman for Teignbridge Council said: “We have inspected the vehicle and the stickers have been removed. This means the vehicle complies with the licence and no further action is being taken at this time.” Mmmm… We first ran a report on this matter in November’s PHTM, when Mrs Said’s origi- nal stickers were objected to by the council. At that point the text on the stickers read “Local Driver” and the council
deemed this to be some sort of slur on foreigners(?). Anyway, Mrs Said then changed her stickers for new ones, and has now removed them. Neither version is intended as, or is in real terms, any- thing racist or discriminatory. If the council enforced as stringently on other licensing matters as they have devoted their efforts to this one, the streets of Newton Abbot would be the safest in the country for the trav- elling public. Ho hum, common sense must prevail - Ed.
SIXTY ROCHDALE CABBIES PROTEST OVER SUSPENSIONS
Sixty taxi drivers protested outside Rochdale council offices after two col- leagues had their licences suspended. According to the Man- chester Evening News, the protest came after two private hire drivers were arrested follow- ing an attack near the Cask and Feathers pub in Oldham Road on Sunday December 1, which left two men with head injuries. Two men, aged 18 and 20, were taken to hos- pital following the incident, but dis- charged themselves shortly afterwards. But the 18-year-old took a turn for the worse and had to be readmitted. Police arrested two taxi drivers, aged 23 and 33, on suspicion of section 18 wound- ing. They were questioned and re- leased on bail.
But while inquiries are ongoing, the council has suspenmded their taxi licences on a tem- porary basis.
On the following Thursday fellow driv-
ers protested against the decision.
Owner of Streamline Taxis Mohammed Rizaq said about 60 drivers took part. He added: “If the police had charged them that would have been different. But they’ve not even been charged and the coun- cil has made a decision to take away their livelihood.
“They’re family peo- ple, they’ve got wives and children.” Police confirmed the men had been bailed until January 21. Director of economy and environment at Rochdale council Mark Widdup said: “We are aware of the allegations made against these private hire drivers.
“In the interest of pub- lic safety we have chosen to temporarily suspend their licences as a precautionary measure.”
Mmmm… OK, so the council can instantly suspend a licence under LGMPA section 61(2B): “If it appears that the interests of
public safety require the suspension or rev- ocation of the licence to have immediate effect, and the notice given to the driver under subsection (2)(a) of this section includes a statement that that is so and an explanation why, the suspension or revoca- tion takes effect when the notice is given to the driver.” So this council must be pretty convinced that these drivers will be convict- ed; that is why it has acted for the benefit of public safety.
In
terms of any actions following either con- viction or acquittal, case law has upheld that a local authority can go behind crimi- nal proceedings to establish ‘fit and prop- er’ status of any licence holder based on civil evidence: in other words, “proof of the balance of proba- bility”. Shame of it is that (1) the incident happened in the first place; and (2) the guys had to miss the lucrative festive busi- ness.- Ed.
PHTM JANUARY 2014
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