IN THE NEWS
PHV WITH FAULTY BRAKE LIGHT LED LIVERPOOL POLICE TO DRUGS
Two men and a woman were arrest- ed on suspicion of drug offences after police stopped a pri- vate hire vehicle which had a brake light out. The Liverpool Echo reports that officers stopped the Peu- geot Partner at around 8pm last month in the Kens- ington area of Liverpool. There was a strong smell of cannabis from the vehicle, and police found drugs in the car, the force said.
The driver was detained at
the
scene. Police then carried out a raid on an address in Parlia- ment Close
in
Liverpool city cen- tre. They found cannabis, cannabis oil and cash. Two men aged 24 and 54 were arrest- ed on suspicion of possession with intent
to supply
cannabis. A woman, 45, was also arrest- ed on suspicion of possession with intent
to supply
cannabis. The PHV was stop-
ped by officers working on Opera- tion Target which is aimed at disrupting serious and violent crime across Mer- seyside. Inspector
Jordan
Quinn said: “This was an excellent example of proac- tive policing, and is exactly why Opera- tion Target is so effective. We know that criminal activity is being disrupted by the action we have been carrying out in our local com- munities in the past three months.”
PEMBROKESHIRE PASSENGER KILLED AS SHE GOT OUT OF TAXI
A taxi passenger was killed when she stepped out of the vehicle after arguing with the driver be- cause she refused to wear a seat belt, an inquest heard. The Daily Mail reports that Vanessa Collins-Smith, 25, was in the taxi as it drove along the A4076 near Haver- fordwest in Pem- brokeshire, around 11pm in February. But as the vehicle drove along the unlit road, she began to argue with the taxi driver over her refusal to wear a seat belt. Dressed all in black and clutching a bot- tle of Prosecco, she stepped out onto the road and was mown down by a passing car. Taxi driver Awais Eshan told police: “I
70
kept asking her but she refused to wear a seat belt. The alarm was sounding and the more I asked her the more abusive she became.” Ms Collins-Smith left the cab without paying and found herself alone on road. She had re- cently moved to the area and called a friend to say she was lost. Two cars swerved to avoid her before she was hit by a Land- Rover Defender and killed outright in the accident. The driver, Gordon Stanger, said he did- n’t see the young woman in the road because she was dressed all in black. The inquest heard there was a pave- ment alongside the busy road but tragi- cally Vanessa didn’t
know it was there. Accident investiga- tor PC Aled Thomas said:
clothing blended in with the surround- ings. The driver would not have been able to avoid her.” Pembrokeshire Cor- oner Mark Layton recorded a verdict that Vanessa, from Haverfordwest, died from multiple trau- matic injuries in a road traffic acci- dent. Her tearful mother Marie said after the hearing: “She was a sweet and bubbly girl. She’d never objected to wearing a seat belt before, we don’t know what to make of it.” One of her work col- leagues said: “It’s heartbreaking that she died so tragical- ly.”
CONVICTION FOR HARTLEPOOL ‘FACEBOOK TAXI DRIVER’
A Hartlepool man has pleaded guilty to a number of offences relating to him acting as an unlicensed taxi driv- er, following an in- vestigation led by Hartlepool Borough Council’s Licensing Team. According to Hartle- pool
Borough
Council, Raymond Cann pleaded guilty at Teesside Magis- trates’ Court
to
driving without a private hire driver’s licence, driving a vehicle that was not licensed as a PHV and driving without insurance. He was fined £480, ordered to pay £300 in costs and
had eight penalty points added to his driving licence. The Court was told that a Facebook post appeared on 31st December 2018 from a young female offering lifts for £5. A local man accept- ed the offer and was subsequently picked up by Mr Cann, who also carried out a return journey later that same evening. After receiving a complaint about the incident, the coun- cil’s licensing team carried out a full investigation which found that Mr Cann did not have a licence to act as a PHV driver, his vehi- cle was not licensed
as a PHV and there- fore not insured. Ian Harrison, Hartle- pool Borough Coun- cil’s Trading Stan- dards and Licensing Manager, said: “I am aware that Face- book and other social media plat- forms are being used to offer ‘cheap lifts’ but I would urge everyone to not accept these regardless of how attractive the offer may sound. “In order to protect the public, Hartle- pool Council will not hesitate in taking enforcement action against any other person it finds to be acting as an unli- censed taxi driver.”
GWYNEDD DRIVER MOVED BARRIER “Her dark TO DRIVE OVER COLLAPSING BRIDGE
A taxi driver who was filmed moving safety barriers to clear his path over a structurally dam- aged bridge to avoid a lengthy detour has been hit with a fine. According to the Daily Post, David Morris, 55,
from
Talysarn appeared before Caernarfon Court last month. The Grade 2 listed Pont Bodfel situated on the A497 in Bod- uan, Gwynedd, was cordoned off back in January due to structural damage. Motorists faced an eight-mile detour before a single-lane temporary Bailey bridge was erected while repair works
were carried out. Morris was filmed by one of his passen- gers moving the safety barriers and lifting a traffic cone in February. The footage was posted onto social media with people slam- ming the taxi driver for “putting people’s lives at risk” by un- blocking one of the two lanes. North Wales Police were informed of the incident and fol- lowing
enquiries
Morris was identi- fied as being the taxi driver and sum- monsed to court. He was fined £250, ordered to pay £775 CPS costs and pay a £30 victim sur- charge.
Sergeant Meurig Jones of the Roads Policing Unit said: “This was complete- ly
unacceptable,
senseless and shock- ing behaviour from a so-called profession- al driver. This was a dangerously dam- aged section of road yet he opened him- self, his passengers and other innocent motorists to danger. “We’d like to thank the passenger who filmed the incident and then placed it onto social media.” A Gwynedd Council spokesperson said: “As the local licens- ing authority, we are considering
court’s verdict in the context of
the taxi
licensing issues.” OCTOBER 2019
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