IN THE NEWS HIGH WYCOMBE RIDE FIT FOR A KING
Taxi drivers pick up people from all walks of life - but the future King of England has topped the passenger list
GREENER TAXIS FOR YORK’S STREETS for one High
Wycombe firm. Neales Taxis received a routine call to pick up a group in Hyde End which was heading to a wedding near Watling- ton in Oxfordshire. But the driver, Hasnain Tariq, 27, was in for a bit of surprise when the Duke of Cam- bridge Prince William climbed into the back of the minibus on a recent Saturday night. Mr Tariq told the Bucks Free Press: “I didn’t really see him until he got out - I happened to look as the last guy got out and Prince William said: ‘Hello, are you all right?’ “I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t believe
Picture courtesy Bucks Free Press
Izy Rashid - manager of the cab firm that picked up Prince William
it. I was totally gob- smacked. We’ve had a few celebs in the cars as a company but I’ve never had anyone in my taxi before so this is definitely at the top of my list and gives me a story to tell my pas- sengers in the future. “They were making a lot of noise in the back of the cab and were just having fun but I
didn’t really pay any attention to what they were saying, as it’s my job to drive.” Izy Rashid, manager of Neales in Castle Street, said: “It was a bit of a shock. We’ve had lots of celebrities in our cabs - from the Gallagher brothers to Tom Hanks - but never Royalty, so this one definitely tops the lot.”
KENT CABBIE SMUGGLED CIGARETTES
A taxi driver, who attempted to smuggle over 3.6 million coun- terfeit cigarettes into the UK concealed behind pallets of loose slate, has been jailed for evading around £925,000 in excise duty and VAT. Baljinder Singh was caught
reached the UK’s streets.
Criminals
involved in this type of crime don’t care who they harm; they are only out to make a prof- it. Their illegal activity undermines honest local
retailers and
cigarettes from a sea container
transferring into two
vans at an industrial unit in Tilbury. The Metropolitan Police, who were carrying out a surveillance opera- tion, detained Singh and the cigarettes. The case was then passed to HMRC for investigation. Singh was arrested and the cigarettes seized. Paul Barton, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation, HMRC said: “If this illegal operation had not been stopped millions of potentially dangerous counterfeit
cig-
arettes would have PAGE 22
allows unregulated cigarettes to get into the hands of children and young people.” Baljinder Singh was found guilty on 17 May 2013 after a six-week trial. He was jailed for five years on 20 June at
Ipswich Crown
Court. Upon sentencing, His Honour Judge Holt, said: “This was a sophisticated smug- gling operation and you were involved well before the cigarettes arrived in the country.” He also commented that Singh was a “senior figure in the importation - essential to the fraud and responsible for the distribution of the cig-
arettes”. The counterfeit ciga- rettes arrived from China into Felixstowe, in May 2011. Import documents described the goods as 26 pallets of loose slate, with a delivery address in Ipswich. Investigators found that an innocent company’s details had been used as a cover for the load, but instead of being delivered to Ipswich the pallets were diverted to an industrial unit in Tilbury. The court heard the unit was raided by Metropolitan Police officers who discov- ered cigarettes on the evening of 26 May 2011. They alerted HMRC investigators who found 3,639,800 counterfeit cigarettes in the back of a recent- ly delivered container and in two vans parked outside. Singh was arrested at the unit, and later charged with duty evasion.
Greener taxis are set to become a more regular sight on York’s streets as council bosses hope to cut pollution. City of York Council’s low emission taxi incentive plan - the first in the UK - aims to increase the number of hybrid and electric taxis and PHVs by offering hackney and private hire drivers £3,000 towards their cost through its Local Sustainable Transport Fund, set up through Government funding. One of the first hybrid taxis was unveiled last
month when Cllr Dave Merrett, cabinet mem- ber for transport and sustainability, said: “They are part of our longer-term objective to improve air quality and reduce emissions which are so damag- ing to public health. “We are determined to address traffic-related air quality problems in York and this incentive is an innovative step forward. We need to move as quickly as possible to introduce less-polluting vehicle technology, and taxis are a key group given
their numbers.” Cllr Barbara Boyce, who chairs the coun- cil’s licensing com- mittee, said the author- ity was also offering half-price licences for drivers of new low- emission
vehicles,
with four drivers hav- ing signed up to this in the last month. She told the York Press: “We look for- ward to many more licensed vehicle own- ers taking advantage of this initiative, which will save them money through reduced fuel costs longer term.”
RADSTOCK CABBIE HEARD ON RADIO 2
The dulcet tones of Radstock cabbie Ray McKeegan are to become a familiar sound to regular Radio 2 listeners. Ray, 57, is the new voice of The Word slot on the early morning Vanessa Feltz show and his cheery jingles now ring out announc- ing the slot. Ray, who has lived in the town for more than 30 years, is originally from Londonderry and his melodic Irish accent wowed the radio presenter when he responded to an appeal for people with stand-out voices to read out the word for the day. The word segment gives listeners a differ- ent obscure word each day, with traffic announcer
Lynn
Bowles then giving its meaning. Ray sent in an email telling Feltz that he was always told by people in his cab that he had a good voice and in response was asked to read out a sen- tence. To his surprise, Ray, who drives for V Cars in the city, was select- ed and then voted
Picture courtesy Somerset Guardian
Radstock taxi driver Ray McKeegan is the new voice of The Word slot on Radio 2
voice of the week with a live appearance on the show. His word was “habili- ments”, an old Middle English word that means the dress or garb associated with an office or occasion. After being selected as voice of the week Ray travelled to Lon- don where he met both presenters and was then asked to make six different jin- gles which air from 5am every weekday morning to more than 30 million listeners worldwide. Ray told the Somerset Guardian: “I spend a lot of my time in the cab and Radio 2 is a source of easy listen- ing and entertainment.
I am more a news man and like to listen to the news and politics which gives me some- thing to talk to passengers about. It was a fantastic experi- ence and I appreciate a lot of young presen- ters on community and hospital radios would have given their right arm for it.” Ray’s
fame has
already spread with a passenger he dropped at Bitton recognising his voice having heard it earlier on the radio that day. “The guy kept saying he had heard my voice before
realised he and his wife had been listen- ing to me on the radio that morning.”
PHTM JULY 2013
and then
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
