IN THE NEWS
GLASGOW PH DRIVER BLAMES AUTOMATIC CAR FOR SPEEDING AND GETS HIS LICENCE RENEWED
A Glasgow private hire driver caught travelling at 80mph in a 50mph zone has argued it was because he wasn’t used to driving an automatic vehicle. However, Asif Naeem, 44, who received three penalty points and a fine over the speeding on the M74, got his private hire car driver’s licence renewed by councillors. The licensing and regulatory committee heard that Mr Naeem did not notice his speed during the
incident in September last year. Councillors were also told that Mr Naeem had just switched from a manual to an automatic - which he wasn’t used to.
Questioning Mr Naeem over the incident, committee chair SNP councillor, Alex Wilson, said: “You took it from 50 to 80 in an unfamiliar car. It is easier to have an automatic car - you don’t have much to do.” Cllr Wilson said Mr Naeem should
have been more careful if he was unfamiliar with the car, adding: “I have grave concerns.” Labour councillor, Hanif Raja, reminded Mr Naeem his licence is “very serious.” The committee heard Mr Naeem also was a delivery driver. Councillors renewed the driver’s licence for a period of one year and issued a warning regarding his future conduct and failure to comply with conditions of licence.
BRADFORD CABBIE’S COMMENTS CREEPY BUT NOT INTENDED TO CAUSE HARASSMENT SAY MAGISTRATES
A cabbie who left a female passenger feeling scared and by his ‘creepy’ questions has walked free from court after magistrates in Skipton found his actions had not been intentional. The bench accepted that the woman, who works for Northern Trains, had been frightened by the behaviour and comments of taxi driver Raja Ahmed as he drove her from Ilkley Railway Station to Skipton Station last October. But magistrates found there had been no intent by Mr Ahmed, 24, and accepted his defence that there was no case to answer. The charge therefore that he had intended to cause the woman harassment, alarm or distress by using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, which he denied, was dismissed. The 26-year old woman told the court on 21 October, how Mr Ahmed, who worked for a Shipley taxi firm, had during the 15-minute
60
evening journey on October 6, 2021, asked her about her accent, how he liked it and that she could ‘speak to him all night long’. He also asked if she lived alone, as he did in Bradford, and if she felt lonely at night. The woman said Mr Ahmed had turned round to her while she was texting and said how all women were obsessed with social media and asked for her contact details. When they arrived in Skipton she was unable to get out because the door of the taxi was locked and she had refused ‘three or four times’ to give him her Snapchat number. The woman, messaged her friend during the journey so someone would know ‘if something happened’ and said it was not ‘normal taxi chat’ and that she had felt scared and his questioning was inappropriate and creepy. In a statement to police, Mr Ahmed said he would never use inappropriate behaviour towards a
passenger, and that the doors of the taxi had not been locked. Mazar Khan for Mr Ahmed, in cross examination of the woman, said none of his client’s comments were sexual and asked her if it was not the case that she had panicked for a reason ‘best-known to her’ and that she had over-reacted - which she denied. “He did not threaten me verbally, or physically, but I felt threatened. He was asking inappropriate, sexual questions,” she said. Mr Khan said the woman had felt discomfort and that she believed his client’s comments were inappropriate, unpleasant and creepy. But he said ‘every young man lacking in social skills, could be guilty of a crime’, and added: “There is no evidence of intent to cause harassment.” The bench chairman said the woman was a ‘good and credible witness’ but the Crown had failed to prove there had been intent.
NOVEMBER 2022 PHTM
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