FIT AND PROPER 12 COMPLAINTS ABOUT BRADFORD DRIVERS IN YORK
Twelve complaints were made to Brad- ford Council about the behaviour of their taxi drivers in York last year. The York Press reports that most of the complaints were about parking or driving infringements, with eight of the accusations upheld. Wendy
Loveday,
chair of the York Pri- vate Hire Asso- ciation, told the York Press: “If they are not York registered cars they are not going through our stringent
checks.
Some of these cars just would not be allowed in York. “They are being driv- en by people who do
not know our streets. If we carry on letting these rogue drivers drive around York, the public is not being
protected
from them. “They don’t seem to care because they are in a different city to the one in which they are registered.” A spokesman for City of York Council said: “All complaints we receive regard- ing taxi firms or taxi drivers in York are responded to. We work with other local authorities and the police to ensure an appropriate res- ponse. And if nec- essary, where there is substantiating evi- dence and when the
offence falls under City of York Council jurisdiction, we will take the appropriate legal action.” A Bradford Council spokesman
said:
“We take all com- plaints seriously and each complaint has been dealt with accordingly.” Mmmm… As part of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority when it comes to taxi/PHV licensing, York Council should indeed be pro-active in out-of-area en- forcement against miscreants from the other five districts. Certainly the local PH association is very active in policing their patch. – Ed.
NW LEICES TAXI DRIVER DRIVES OFF AFTER CRASH WITH CYCLIST
A taxi driver who collided with a cy- clist and drove off without stopping has been stripped of his licence. Footage of
the
shocking incident captured on the headcam of cyclist Dylan May shows the taxi turn into Gut- teridge Street,
in
Coalville, on the wrong side in the early hours of Friday, January 11. He is then seen to crash into the victim head-on. The taxi driver initial- ly blamed the cyclist and said Mr May had been in the middle of the road. He later admitted to being at fault and driving away from the scene
BURTON PHV DRIVER ATTEMPTS TO DUPE SOUTH DERBYSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL
A private hire driver from Burton was found guilty of fail- ing to declare his taxi driver licence history when mak- ing
a licence
application to South Derbyshire District Council (SDDC) and North West Leices- tershire
District
Council (NWLDC). Ali Hassan’s criminal history was only spotted thanks to an eagle-eyed licens- ing
officer
asleep while driving as part of a school contract. He spotted Hassan submitting docu- ments in support of his licensing appli- cation and later discovered that on his application form, he had failed to dis- close his licence history with ESBC. The
35-year-old at
NWLDC who had previously worked at East Staffordshire Borough Council’s (ESBC)
licensing
department which had previously re- voked
Hassan’s licence for falling 30
driver also failed to disclose a speeding offence which res- ulted in six penalty points on his licence and a car crash in which three people sustained injuries and for which Has- san received four penalty points. He was found guilty of fraud by false
representation for failing to disclose his licence history at Leicester Magis- trates’ Court SDDC and NWLDC working in partner- ship each presented evidence in court against Hassan. Hassan was handed a 12-month commu- nity order with a requirement of 100 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay a victim sur- charge of £85, and, due to his limited means, a contribu- tion towards costs of £500. If the community order is breached, he will be brought back to court and could face prison.
Mmmm… This sce- nario is precisely why the Local Gov- ernment Association established the NR3 database last year: so that
licensing
authorities all over the UK – whether neighbouring or dis- tant – can check the database of all licensed drivers who have either been refused or revoked in other districts. The Government wants this database to be compulsory, rather than adop- tive, for all licensing authorities to submit such information, and to make use of it for protection of public safety in their district. – Ed.
after he was shown the headcam footage. Mr May suffered injuries to his arm, shoulder and elbow and his bike was sig- nificantly damaged. He said: “I still now can’t believe some- body would collide with a cyclist and just drive off, especially a so-called profession- al taxi driver.” The driver, who has not been named, has now had his licence taken away by North West Leicestershire District Council as a result of the incident and his subsequent actions. Cllr Alison Smith from the district council, said: “This was an appalling
incident. “The quality of the driving which led to the collision was poor but the reaction of driving away and then lying about the incident afterwards was particularly un- acceptable.” As
the driver’s
licence has been revoked, it will now be illegal for him to drive a taxi in the area. He can apply for another licence in North West Leices- tershire but would be considered as a new driver and his past behaviour will be considered. The matter has been reported to the police and inquiries are underway.
PLYMOUTH DRIVER LOSES LICENCE
A taxi driver who had his
licence
revoked by Ply- mouth City Council’s taxi licensing com- mittee for over- charging and abus- ing customers has had an appeal against the decision dismissed. According to the Plymouth Herald, hackney carriage driver Servet Bayar, 30, lost his licence last August follow- ing seven com- plaints around over- charging, failure to negotiate a fare and abusive behaviour towards a passenger between October 2017 and February 2018. Magistrates have
now dismissed the appeal and ordered Bayer to pay court costs of £2,696.98 which he has been given three months to pay. Plymouth Magis- trates’ Court heard that the committee concluded that Mr Bayar was no longer a ‘safe and suitable’ person to hold a licence and revoked his hackney carriage licence. The court also heard that even after Mr Bayar’s revocation in August 2018, fur- ther
complaints
were received by the Taxi Licensing Team between Sep- tember 2018 and February 2019.
MARCH 2019
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