CARDIFF, Brainless Licensing.

A young woman was refused a taxi home from work at 4am despite having to walk past the scene of three sex attacks.

DJ Jasmine Freeman, 23, was turned away by the taxi firm after she finished work - and was told that her mile-long journey was "too short."

It comes just weeks after three young women were victims of serious sex assaults in the space of five days in Cardiff city centre.

The DJ had finished work at Cardiff's Buffalo Bar around 4am when her boss said he'd phone a taxi for her.

But the cab firm told her they weren't picking customers up from the bar - and told her to look elsewhere.

Jasmine lives in Cathays - a five-minute drive from the bar and past the scene of the three sex attacks.

She said: "The nearest taxi rank is a five to 10-minute walk away and there are never many taxis there.

"A taxi firm should have a duty of care to get people home safely and they certainly didn't in this case."

Her bosses said: "After all the goings on in Cardiff we do our best to make sure our staff and customers get home OK. To be refused is a joke."

Cardiff Council said private hire cabs operated under a different licence to Hackney Carriages - and who private companies choose to pick up is at their own discretion.

A spokesman said: "Private hire is basically a contract between the driver and the person getting the taxi. At that point in time, when the phone call was made, it would be that all the cars were booked, no drivers were available or any other similar scenario."

Two men have been arrested and charged with rape in connection to two of the three Cardiff sex attacks.

Khalid Alahmadi, 23, and Rebus Hamza, 40, will both appear at Cardiff Crown Court on October 12.

Alahmadi was arrested in connection with the sexual assault on a 19-year-old girl on September 24, and Hamza with the sexual assault of a 20-year-old on September 20.

Police are still investigating the third assault which took place during the early hours of September 22.

http://goo.gl/Xg6GQu

Comment; Cardiff Licensing spokesman states 
* "Private hire is basically a contract between the driver and the person getting the taxi." *

A ride booked with a PH Driver is a criminal offence. Rides have to be booked with A PH Operator and then passed to the driver. 
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 OXFORD

A Barrister who operated a cab company without a licence has been fined £600 by the bar regulator.

Ahtiq Raja, who was a barrister at 9 King’s Bench Walk until September this year, was the director of taxi company Call a Cab. The firm was last year found guilty at Oxford Magistrates’ Court of five separate offences for operating a cab in a controlled district without a licence.

According to local news reports at the time, Raja and his taxi firm were ordered to pay a fine of £25,000 after a two-year legal battle. The firm was also banned from operating in Aylesbury.

The Bar Standards Board found Raja culpable of professional misconduct for behaving in a way that was likely to diminish trust and confidence in the profession. The finding was as a result of determination by consent.

http://goo.gl/rk9tA3
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