...SHAME...SHAME...SHAME
BRISTOL DRIVER LOSES LICENCE AFTER INAPPROPRIATE CONTACT WITH WOMAN
A taxi driver from Keynsham near Bris- tol, who made inappropriate contact with women and used “abhorrent” racist language has lost his livelihood after 30 years in the profession. The Bath Echo reports that in 2016 the unnamed driver, who also covered Mid- somer Norton, used a customer’s con- tact details to find her on social media and started calling persistently when she stopped responding. He was advised to do everything in his power to avoid another complaint, but in 2019 another woman complained he was “inappropriate, just a bit creepy” when he tracked her down to her work- place to return a lost phone and insisted on handing it over personally. Bath and North East Somerset Council’s licensing subcommittee meeting in De- cember heard that the driver also made racist comments on three occasions in less than a year.
In one incident he allegedly told a woman of colour the Black Lives Matter protests were irrelevant and would not change anything, and that “those who were subject to racism in the UK de- served it”. The subcommittee heard that he used a racist term “comfortably”, and de- scribed his comments as “abhorrent”. In March last year the driver allegedly blamed Chinese people for the coron- avirus pandemic “because they eat bats”, upsetting his Chinese passengers. On another occasion he commented about “English drivers”. He denied making racist and inappropri- ate comments but the subcommittee considered the witnesses more credible. It voted to revoke his private hire oper- ator’s licence, having previously re- solved in October to strip him of his combined HC/PH driver’s licence. But Councillor Steve Hedges voiced concerns about the process at the li- censing committee’s meeting on 18th February. He said: “When these people have their licences revoked, if they
MARCH 2021
choose to appeal, it’s possible they can carry on driving for a year or more. That really concerns me, especially if it’s someone putting people in danger or a sex pest or a child sex offender. “If it’s a serious case, like at least one of the ones we dealt with in the last few months, when you revoke a licence they shouldn’t be allowed to drive, even if they are appealing, until the appeal – otherwise how many more people are going to be put in danger?” Deputy legal adviser Carrie-Ann Evans said if the committee decides a driver is “no longer fit and proper” it can imme- diately revoke the licence, but that is reserved for the most serious cases. She said: “It might be an incident of CSE or where someone has a medical condi- tion which immediately renders them unfit to be driving. Alternatively you
have the option of revocation with no- tice. If the driver submits an appeal to the Magistrates’ Court within the pre- scribed period they are permitted to continue driving while their appeal is determined.” She said in two recent cases drivers withdrew their appeals so the council did not face a year-long wait for their licences to be revoked. Cllr Manda Rigby said the council’s first priority is public protection and the system works well. She asked for assur- ance that if a revocation is appealed it gets dealt with quickly so there is not a long delay when people can carry on driving, and said if a licence is revoked that information needs to be shared with other authorities. The council is joining a national database to allow that to happen.
ONLINE DATING SCAM CONMAN HAS GLASGOW PHV LICENCE REJECTED
A conman who was part of a £35,000 online dating scam will not be allowed to drive PHVs in Glasgow. According to STV News, Sidney Ochou- ba’s previous PHV licence was suspended for its duration in Septem- ber following a police complaint. But in February last year, he had applied for a three-year renewal. Glas- gow licensing chiefs have now decided to reject that request too. Ochouba, who lived in the Gorbals, was jailed for 30 months after he was found guilty in January last year. A police officer said the force believes Ochouba is not a fit and proper person to hold a licence. The court had heard how he had posed as a World Health Organisation (WHO) worker to dupe women on dating site Plenty More Fish. Between June 2014 and February 2015,
Ochouba and another male had “formed a fraudu- lent scheme”, the licensing commit- tee was told. The police officer said they received cash “on the pre- tence of returning
the money later”. “Your honours will observe that the applicant has not disclosed the convic- tions at question number nine on his application,” she added. During the court case, it was revealed Ochouba and Busayo Oladapo posed as WHO workers in Syria who had become stranded with no money, trick- ing seven victims into sending money to “diplomats” who were helping them return home.
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