DRUGS IN CABS
PRIVATE HIRE DRIVER CONVICTED AFTER POLICE FIND £50K OF CANNABIS IN BOOT NEAR CARLISLE
Leicester private hire driver Muhammad Malik, 46, has been found guilty of possessing five kilos of cannabis with intent to supply after police stopped his Toyota on the M6 near Carlisle on December 11 of last year. District Judge Philip Holden rejected Malik’s defence of innocent possession, calling it “wholly implausible” and noting he was “likely a courier being used by an organised crime group.” Malik claimed a bin bag containing the £50,000 worth of drugs was left behind by an unidentified customer and that he set off on an 11-hour, 600-mile round trip to
dismissed the account as “nonsense” and “ridiculous,” while defence lawyer Mohammed Hussain argued that “drug dealers make mistakes and they forget things.”
Scotland - intending to visit
Glasgow’s central mosque, a Toyota showroom, and potential takeaway sites - without checking inside. Prosecutor George Shelley
When questioned about his nervous demeanor during the traffic stop, Malik blamed fear of getting licence points as a working taxi driver, insisting: “I am simply a taxi driver who was doing my work.” Having spent 12 days in custody following his arrest, Malik received a 12-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work, £650 in costs, and a £114 victim surcharge.
LIVERPOOL COUNCIL TO TIGHTEN DRUG RULES AFTER 12 DRIVERS LOSE LICENCES
Liverpool City Council is moving to tighten drug-testing processes for taxi and private hire drivers after cocaine and cannabis use identified by city officials resulted in 12 immediate licence revocations without any right of appeal. For the past seven years, the local authority has implemented a drug- testing policy across its 4,800 registered drivers following approval in 2019. Data shows that only 13% of drivers - 630 individuals - have actually been tested during this period. Those screenings revealed that a “small minority”
of licensed
motorists use illegal substances on a “recreational basis or as habitual users”, prompting council concerns over public safety standards. An upcoming report going before
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the general licensing committee emphasises that the council views such substance use as “completely incompatible with being fit and proper persons to be entrusted with the safe carriage of the general public as well as the dangers presented to other road users”. Recent operational data shows that since 2023, 21 new applicants with drug-related DBS records underwent testing, while 17 existing drivers faced random checks following public complaints regarding suspected drug use over the past 18 months. Under proposed rule changes, applicants with live or decade-old drug convictions may face discretionary testing and must provide a negative urine sample.
Renewal applicants with drug convictions or cautions from the past three years face mandatory testing requirements. Non-negative initial screening samples must be sent to a UKAS- accredited analytical laboratory for confirmation of exact substances and quantities. Licences can be revoked with immediate effect during this window. Drivers passing a random check receive a three- month exemption from further random testing. Alongside random checks, an intelligence-led approach requiring credible suspicion from officers is under consideration. Revoked drivers may apply for licence reinstatement upon completing a test, provided they are deemed fit and proper to drive again.
OCTOBER 2026 PHTM
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