Dundee licensing committee has put its foot down in its bid to reduce taxi numbers in the city by refusing 17 new applications.

The unsuccessful applicants pleaded for leniency because their bids were received before the committee decided to cap numbers at 611 and not grant any further requests.

Their bids had not cleared the administrative process by the cap date of June 27, however, and the councillors ruled they could not proceed.

Taxi boss Davie Young spoke for four of the applicants and urged councillors to be less strict. He said his 203020 company had been at the forefront of introducing wheelchair access cabs to the city and the drivers he spoke for would put on more of these vehicles.

He alleged that other operators who also put on wheelchair access vehicles were ignoring their responsibility by not accepting disabled passengers, but the drivers he spoke for were different.

Other applicants spoke of the money they had invested in their vehicles and taxi driving providing them with employment from which they could make a real contribution to the Dundee economy.

Licensing convener Stewart Hunter said a policy had been agreed and a start had to be made to restricting numbers.

The committee agreed in June to cap taxi numbers in the city for the first time in almost a decade.

A survey was conducted revealing “no significant unmet demand” for taxis in Dundee, and councillors unanimously agreed to limit the number to 661.

There were 674 taxi licences in operation in the city — with five temporary licences — and that figure is being reduced through natural wastage, with no new licences being granted until the numbers fall below 611.

Once that lower limit has been breached, a further survey will be held.
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Leicester, soft sentence. 
 
A taxi driver has told how he was too scared to work for nine months after he was attacked by a group of passengers.

Harun Shah Zaman was attacked when he was working as a late-night cabbie in Leicester city centre in May last year.

Two of his attackers were sentenced at Leicester Crown Court last month.

Both admitted the attack and were ordered to carry out unpaid work in the community.

One was handed a suspended jail sentence.

Mr Zaman, who suffered two black eyes and bruises to his head, body, arms and legs in the attack, has only recently returned to the trade after nine months of unemployment.

A 33-year-old married father of two, Mr Zaman, of Humberstone, Leicester, said: "I still feel too scared to work nights, so I will carry on only working during the day.

"I didn't work at all for nine months because of what these people did to me. I was scared of having passengers in my vehicle, worried it would happen again.

"I have only just come back which means it has been a difficult time financially for me and my family.

"I don't think the punishments given by the court were enough. There have been a lot of attacks on taxi drivers and I don't think giving one of these two people a suspended sentence is a deterrent.

"I just hope they look back at what they did to me and realise the impact their actions had on me and my family."

Two people appeared at Leicester Crown Court on Friday, August 16, to be sentenced for their roles in the attack, which happened in the early hours of Saturday, May 19.

The incident happened when Mr Zaman picked up two men and two women from Platinum Lace gentlemen's club, in Abbey Street. The group began arguing and bashing the partition window.

Mr Zaman pulled up at the corner of Millstone Lane and Pocklington's Walk, and told the group to leave. They got out of the car, but then opened the driver's door.

One man grabbed Mr Zaman in a headlock and headbutted him, while the other punched him in the face and head.

The girls joined in, hitting his body and arms, before the group stole his wallet, cash bag containing £80, mobile phone, car keys and satellite navigation unit – which they smashed on the street – and ran off down Pocklington's Walk.

Alexander Lewis Wardle (22), of Main Street, Bushby, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage.

He was given a nine-month prison sentence which was suspended for two years, ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid community work and to pay £500 compensation to the victim.

Starla Boyd (23), of Hill House, Court Road, Thurnby, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and was ordered to complete 100 hours of community work and to pay compensation of £250.
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Liverpool, Latvian druggie jailed.

A DRUG addict who used his belt to choke a taxi driver for his takings was jailed for six years.

Maris Berzins, 28, was in the backseat of Andrew Dixon’s private hire car when he threw the cord around his neck and began to strangle him.

His accomplice then produced a knife and the pair demanded Mr Dixon hand over his takings.

Liverpool crown court heard brave Mr Dixon attempted to fight the men off, grabbing at the knife. But his attempts only led to him cutting his hand. His last memory before he lost consciousness was handing over his cash box.

Robert Jansen, prosecuting, told how Mr Dixon believed he was going to die in the brutal attack.

Berzins and his bleeding accomplice fled to the nearby home of a man they had previously bought drugs from. But after he left his property they broke in and stole his methadone and ate his food.

In the wake of the drunken crime spree on January 12, 2010, Berzins fled to Ireland and then his native Latvia, before eventually going to Denmark.

He was only snared on January 31 this year after he passed through Heathrow Airport on his way to Canada to start a new life.

Berzins, of no fixed address, but formerly of Inglewhite, Skelmersdale, immediately admitted the robbery and burglary and expressed his remorse.

But jailing him, the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe QC said: “Taxi drivers perform a public service. Those in the driver’s seat of a private hire taxi are vulnerable from attack from behind and from the passenger seat alongside him. The two of you had targeted such a person to take money from him.”

Judge Globe also highlighted the “significant physical and extensive psychological injuries” Mr Dixon suffered in the attack. He spent four days in hospital and needed plastic surgery to his damaged hand. He also suffered burn injuries to his neck and a wound to his leg. In a victim impact statement he told how he was off work for six weeks and was then reluctant to go back to work.

He even tried to get a new job, but was unsuccessful and had to return to his former career despite his fears.

Mr Dixon had picked up the two men outside Asda in Skelmersdale. They asked to be taken to Lee Vale Road in Gateacre, but then directed him into neighbouring Fordcombe Road, where Berzins began the attack.

Neil Gunn, defending, said: “At the time of this incident he was a desperate man, desperately in need of drugs. He had been drinking heavily with his co-accused. He was craving a fix and that fix was all-consuming.”
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North Tyneside
 
 Man given taxi licence despite terrible driving record

Dangerous driving is one of the previous charges facing Christopher Adam, including 16 of driving when disqualified and 13 for driving without insurance. This man has now caused a furor amongst road safety campaigners when he was given a taxi licence despite his bad record.

They say that despite having 62 convictions, the 37 year old was allowed to ferry passengers. Others who were disappointed were the town hall chiefs who tried to block his application. According to Alan Newton, the senior licencing officer, the sheer volume of offences was a cause for concern.

After North Tyneside council refused to proffer a taxi licence, he appealed to magistrates that he was a changed man, and that he wants the license. He said that he has new friends and is in a stable relationship. The father of two has also been charged with 27 counts of dishonesty, and has records going back to 1992.

He said that he wants to make a living from driving the taxi, and he has had a licence for three years, and had not committed any traffic offences. Probation officers also offered their support.

The chairwoman of the court, Joan Kay, allowed the appeal and upheld the fact that he was a changed man. His records showed that he had a clean record for the last 7 years, and they were now satisfied that he was in the right state of mind.

After hearing this, one of the council’s spokesmen said that he was very disappointed with the court’s decision. Siobhan MacMahon, from Brake, a charity for road safety, said that it was worrying that a person with such a record could be given a licence.

Christopher Adam, who hails from Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, said that people have the capacity to change and also do so. He says that he should not be punished for the rest of his life for the mistakes in his past.