FIT AND PROPER


PHV DRIVERS COUNT COST OF ILLEGAL PICK UPS IN MILTON KEYNES


Two private hire drivers have been successfully prose- cuted


at MK


Magistrates’ Court for illegally plying for hire following a joint enforcement operation Milton Keynes and South Northants Councils. Altin Haderaj, of Fishermead, accept- ed a £9 journey from Central MK in March 2019 which had not been pre- booked even though he was only insured for pre-booked jour- neys with operator Skyline. Mr Haderaj pleaded guilty and was fined £123 for


plying for hire; £369 for no insurance; given six points on his DVLA licence; and ordered to pay costs of £250 with a victim surcharge of £36. Aylesbury Vale District Council will now review his licence as a result of this conviction. Mohammed Aklasur Rahmant Liton of Luton had accepted a £10 journey from Central MK in March 2019 which had not been pre-booked although he was only insured for pre- booked journeys with operator Speed- line at the time. Mr


Liton pleaded guilty tand was fined £255 for plying for hire; £510 for no insur- ance; given six points on his DVLA licence, and ordered to pay costs of £250 with a victim sur- charge of £51. Aylesbury Vale Dis- trict Council will now also review his licence. Cllr Mick Legg, Chair of MKC’s Regulatory (Taxi) Committee said:


“These li-


censed drivers must take personal res- ponsibility for the safety of everyone they carry in their PHVs.”


MIDDLESBROUGH DRIVER GETS 13 POINTS BUT KEEPS HIS LICENCE


A taxi driver has kept his licence despite racking up 13 penalty points. According to Tees- sideLive, Najabat Ramzan was not disqualified despite getting six penalty points for picking up a fare illegally. A follow up court hearing decided the 48-year-old would face “exceptional hardship”


if his


licence was taken away. Ramzan, from Mid- dlesbrough,


had


pleaded guilty to plying for hire and driving


without


insurance. The court heard how licensing officers had ap- proached his PHV in Middlesbrough dur- ing an operation in


58


January. When an officer asked “can you take us to the Sporting


Lodge


mate?”, Mr Ramzan replied “yeah, yeah” and agreed to do so. On arriving at the destination, Ramzan confirmed the fare would be £7.50, and the officers paid and left the vehicle. When interviewed, the driver confirmed that


the journey


wasn’t pre-booked through a licensed private hire opera- tor, thereby invali- dating his motor insurance. Appearing at Tees- side Magistrates’ Court in July, Ram- zan was fined £460, ordered to pay costs of £185 and a £46 victim surcharge. He


was also given six penalty points on his licence bringing his total to 13. According to the Road Traffic Offend- ers Act 1988, when a driver clocks up 12 penalty points or more, “the court must order him to be disqualified for not less than the minimum period” of six months. But the Act adds that the courts can decide not to dis- qualify a driver if it is thought


the ban


would lead to “exceptional hard- ship”. Following a subse- quent hardship hear- ing in August, mag- istrates agreed not to disqualify Ram- zan.


E SUSSEX MAN FINED NEARLY £2,500 FOR USING HIS CAR AS A TAXI


A man from Pole- gate has been given a heavy fine for using his car as a private hire vehicle without a licence, according to a court document. The Eastbourne Her-


ald reports that William Beckett, 54, was found guilty of two offences of using a car as a PHV without having a current licence. The offences took place in East Sussex


between October 6 last year and Jan- uary 7 this year. He was fined £1,000 for each offence in his absence and ordered to pay £476.26 in prosecu- tion costs.


STOCKTON DRIVER CAUGHT USING FACEBOOK HAS LICENCE REVOKED


A PHV driver who was caught scrolling through Facebook at the wheel has had his licence revoked. The Northern Echo reports that Stock- ton Council’s licens- ing committee deem- ed the former Boro Taxis driver was not a fit and proper per- son to drive a cab after footage show- ed him scrolling on his mobile for 40


seconds while carry- ing a passenger in July. The passenger said she was terrified when she clocked the driver on the app. Her video has been viewed more than 45,000 times. Councillors deemed the driver was “not paying adequate attention” – citing the fact he hadn’t noticed his rear pas-


senger was record- ing his actions. The committee also found the driver “had not been whol- ly truthful” when interviewed


and


found his explana- tion that he was “expecting a mes- sage from his wife” to be false. On the back of the evidence, members agreed to revoke his licence.


MAN USED FALSE PASSPORT TO GET LICENCE IN HIGH WYCOMBE


A man from High Wycombe who used a false passport to obtain a taxi driver licence has ap- peared at High Wycombe Magis- trates’ Court. According to Wy- combeToday, the 36- year-old appear- ed at High Wy- combe Magistrates’ Court in August - he had earliier pleaded guilty to using a false


instrument


contrary to Section 3 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act


1981. The fraud was dis- covered when the man applied to renew his taxi driver licence as the false passport used to obtain the licence had expired. The magistrates noted that


the


offence crossed the custody threshold because the man had


deliberately


used a false docu- ment which he had knowingly acquired and used to obtain a hackney carriage


and private hire licence. However the magistrates decided to suspend the sen- tence of imprison- ment due to the man’s personal cir- cumstances. He was therefore sentenced to six months’


imprison-


ment, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to do 120 hours’ unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay the prosecu- tion costs of £1,400 along with a victim surcharge of £85.


OCTOBER 2019


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