FIT AND PROPER
ABERDEEN CABBIE RACKED UP 40 ILLEGAL WEEKEND FARES AFTER MISSING WARNING EMAIL
An Aberdeen cabbie has been given a formal warning after taking on 40 unlawful fares earlier this year.
Majid Ali’s taxi inspection certificate expired earlier this year but he continued to use the car to transport customers. Aberdeen City Council’s licensing team had emailed him about the potential risk of continuing to drive the vehicle – but Mr Ali claims he missed it as he was sleeping. The breach was brought before the local authority’s licensing committee on Wednesday 6 September. Pleading for leniency, a defiant Mr Ali insisted that the council “should have phoned him” rather than sending an email. The miffed cabbie questioned why the council “couldn’t leave a simple voicemail” when his father in war- torn Kashmir manages to call. Policy states that taxis must undergo two inspections a year. After a successful inspection, each licence holder is given a pass certificate that has an expiry date. Mr Ali’s previous document expired on January 9. The council advised him the following week that his certificate had expired and he should stay off the road until his vehicle was re- inspected. However, Mr Ali undertook 40 hires between Friday, January 20 and Sunday January 22 anyway. Extra charges are applied to taxis booked at the weekend. The local authority sent him an email at 11.45am on Friday, January 20, which he missed as he was “asleep after finishing a night shift
PHTM OCTOBER 2023
with Rainbow City Taxis”. He said he didn’t notice the important message until Monday, when he immediately stopped using his car. “I read my email and at the bottom it says that ‘you are not allowed to use your car, it is a criminal offence’,”
Mr Ali told the
committee. Councillors questioned if Mr Ali had any reminders in place about them and he argued the local authority needed to do more to alert him instead. “The council never rang me, they just sent an email. “I’m putting my hands up that it’s my responsibility to check emails but I’m just saying a phone call would help, or even a voice message as everyone else rings. “British Gas rings me, my father from Kashmir in a warzone rings me, but Aberdeen council can’t
leave a simple voicemail?” He added: “I never read the email, that is my fault." Councillors agreed the offence wasn’t enough to
warrant
stripping the cabbie of his licence. Councillor Marie Boulton believed a formal warning was suitable, along with a reminder that the conditions of his licence were Mr Ali’s responsibility. She said: “I don’t take it lightly when there’s a breach of conditions because I think they could have
quite serious
consequences. “On this occasion, a formal warning will be sufficient and we take no further action after that. “But it wouldn’t happen again if he appeared before us.” Members of the committee unanimously agreed to issue the warning, which will remain on Mr Ali’s record for the next two years.
UNLICENSED ST ALBANS PH DRIVER TO PAY £900 FOR FINE AND COSTS
An unlicensed PH driver has been ordered to pay fines and legal costs after being prosecuted by St Albans City and District Council. Mohammed Tufayel Ahmed appeared at St Albans Magistrates' Court on 30 August, where he was ordered to pay £918 in total. Ahmed had been licensed by the local authority in 2013 but, despite being sent reminder letters, failed to renew his licence when it expired in August 2022. In January 2023, the council received a complaint that Ahmed
had been spotted touting for business near a taxi rank, and had picked up a paying customer. During an investigation, CCTV footage appeared to capture the incident involving a Mercedes owned by Ahmed. Ahmed admitted to a charge of plying for hire and was fined £80. He was fined £40 after admitting driving a paying passenger without a private hire licence. Ahmed was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £48 and £750 towards the council's costs.
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