IN THE NEWS
SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR UNLICENSED DRIVER DESPITE MONTHS OF ILLEGAL PICK-UPS
An unlicensed driver who may have been picking up fares for months has walked free from court with a suspended sentence. On 3 February, Oxford Crown Court was told there was information that fake taxi driver Aamer Aziz, 44, had been working for a ‘carriage company’.
He also had a contract with a local school and he was dropping off children at school. However, he was only charged with illegally plying for hire on a single date - May 14, 2022 – when a police officer stopped him in Bodicote, after noting his Skoda Superb had not been taxed since late 2020. A visibly frustrated Judge Maria Lamb told the prosecutor that she could sentence only on the charge that had been laid by the council and admitted by Aziz.
“I would en- courage those who charge in these sorts of circumstances to bear that in mind,” she said. When Aziz was stopped, the hackney carriage licence attached to
passengers. On the day of the police stop he was seen to drop off a customer, who had paid around £10 for the journey. Aziz, from Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to fraud by
false his car and ostensibly
advertising the fact he was licensed by Bromsgrove District Council was found to be a flimsy piece of laminated paper. The driver had previously held a taxi licence with the council but it was revoked in 2019 over concerns Aziz’s car was in a dangerous con- dition; he had tried to cover up safety warning lights on the dashboard. He was not insured to carry paying
TAXI INCIDENTS IN EXMOUTH PROMPT WARNING BY EAST DEVON DC
Two women were left shaken after unsettling taxi journeys in two separate incidents in East Devon, prompting council warnings. East Devon DC’s
licensing
department has received two reports in the past month from people using taxis taken from a rank on the Strand, in Exmouth. The first passenger reported an incident, in December, where she said she was subject to inappropriate conversation from the taxi driver, behaving below the professional standard expected from drivers.
38 In January, during a second
incident, a lone passenger using the same rank said she was subject to excessive and high speeds by a driver who became rude and unprofessional when she highlighted her concerns. No taxi plates or vehicle registration numbers were identified in the incidents, and there is currently no link between the reported cars or drivers. The council has now launched an investigation into the incidents but reminds anyone using a taxi service to remember to stay safe.
representation, illegally plying for hire and driving without insurance. He had no previous convictions and his case had been sent to the crown court for sentence. Asking the judge not to send his client to prison immediately, Derek Barry said Aziz was struggling financially. His wife did not work, he had a son to support and large mortgage repayments. He had ‘expressed real remorse’, Mr Barry said. “He is a man who realises what he did was criminal and it is criminal for a reason.” Imposing four months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, Judge Lamb said: “The fact that you got yourself into dire financial straits in no way excuses your behaviour. What you did was very
serious and I have no
hesitation in saying that it passes the custody threshold. “I am careful to limit myself to the matter with which you have been charged and to take no further what I know to be the surrounding circumstances which speak greatly to your discredit. “What you did by displaying those false details was a very significant piece of criminal offending” Aziz was ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work, up to 36 rehabilitation activity requirement days, pay £500 in costs and was banned from the roads for six months.
MARCH 2023 PHTM
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