104 PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY
IN THE NEWS
CROWN COURT DATE AFTER TRAGEDY IN GRIMSBY
A taxi firm owner
whose office exploded killing two people, including his wife, will face a judge at Crown Court. The Grimsby Evening Telegraph reports that taxi firm owner Tony Barker
will appear
alongside Martin Cook, the director of Imming- hamService Station Ltd, for breaches of health and safety rules. Both will appear for commit- tal to Crown Court on May 22 after District Judge Daniel Curtis said: “I cannot see how this is a suitable case for amagistrates’ court.”
Sue Barker, 43, Mr Barker’s wife, and Ann Mawer, 52 died in the explosion at Fred’s Taxis, on Pelham Road, Immingham, on Christ- mas Eve in 2007. As reported, North East Lincolnshire Council has brought a prosecu- tion against the two men
for alleged
breaches of Health And Safety At Work rules and offences relating to the Petroleum Consoli- dation Act. At an inquest into the womens’ deaths last year, it was revealed that both died from inhalation of fumes.
The explosion was caused when petrol leaked from a container bought by Mr Barker because he did not want his taxis to run out of petrol over the Christmas period, the inquest heard. In court, representing Mr Cook and Immingham Services Station Ltd, Julia Kendrick saidmore information was required from the council and analysis of the container required before pleas couldbe entered. Both men are on unconditional bail. Mr Barker is represented by Nigel Sloane.
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SHEDDING LIGHT ON DRIVER OFFENCES IN DUNDEE
Just over five per cent of Dundee’s taxi drivers have
committed
offences, according to figures obtained under Freedom of Information legislation. There are 1385 taxi drivers licensed by the city council and 76 have offences recorded against them. Of those, 53 have a single offence and 23 have more than one. Driving and other road traffic matters account for 61 of the offences, 41 relate to breach of the peace or assault, 17 are for dishonesty, five are for vandalism, three for misuse of drugs andone for failure to attendcourt. A council spokesman told the Dundee Couri- er and Advertiser: “The Rehabilitation
of
Offenders Act does not apply to taxi drivers and, accordingly, a number of the offences are historic,” he said. “There is no distinction between
criminal
offences and fixed penalties so a number of the offences will be for fixed penalties. “Tayside Police also
report drivers who have been convicted during the currency of their licence to the licensing committee,”
the
spokesman said. “In these circumstances the committee can either take no action, give a warning or sus- pend the licence for any period up to the unex- pired portion of the duration of the licence.” Applicants must also complete a Disclosure Scotland form, which allows the council to obtain information not otherwise available to the police. “Once the applications are dealt with the reports are destroyed in terms of the agreed protocol and the infor- mation is not otherwise held by the council,” the spokesman said. He said the figures provided are based on information supplied on new application and licence renewal forms by the applicants and, as such, might not be complete and specific in relation to whether the offences were criminal convictions or
fixed penalties. “Applications to which there are objections are dealt with in private (by the committee) under the Access to Informa- tion Act and, therefore, there are no mecha- nisms in place for the public to bemade aware of convictions against taxi driversother than by means of a request under the Freedom of Information Act,” the spokesman said. “The licensing commit- tee have discretion to either grant or refuse applications
in all
cases. The decision of the committee would be based on the num- ber, age and nature of the convictions record- ed
against each
individual applicant.” However, if a taxi driver loses
his driving
licence he would auto- matically lose his taxi licence as well. Anyone who has been disquali- fied fromdriving for any length of time would have to wait a year from the end of the disquali- fication
before
reapplying for a taxi dri- ver’s licence.
MAY 2009
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