Rotherham abuse trial: Taxi boss ‘does not know’ girl he is accused of raping and prostituting

16:35 Thursday 04 February 2016

A former Rotherham taxi boss has denied knowing a teenage girl he is accused of raping, plying with heroin and prostituting to other men.

Qurban Ali, who is on trial alongside his nephews Arshid and Basharat Hussain and four other defendants, told a jury at Sheffield Crown Court he had never met a teenage girl who has accused of him of participating in her abuse while she was living in the home of fellow accused Karen MacGregor.

Ali, 53, of Clough Road, Masbrough, denies one count each of indecent assault, rape, procuring a girl under 21 to have unlawful sexual intercourse with another and conspiracy to rape in relation to one now-adult woman, known as Girl B.

The offences are said to have occurred between October 1993 and 1995.

Ali, who used to own Speedline Taxis, said he was ‘not close’ to either Arshid or Basharat Hussain.

He said never been involved in the trafficking of any girl and said the person who has accused him may have recognised him from when he worked as a taxi operator in the town centre.

The court heard the complainant had picked him out in an identification parade.

“She has been hanging around my office,” he said.

“I don’t know her.”

One of the allegations made against Ali, who the prosecution say was known as ‘Blind Ash’, was that he drove the girl to Sheffield to have sex with a man.

He said due to being partially sighted, he had never passed a driving test or driven a vehicle.

Ali said he was not aware people had referred to him as ‘Blind Ash’.

Michelle Colborne QC, prosecuting, said there was no other person known as ‘Blind Ash’.

He said: “There might be, I don’t know.”

The court also heard further evidence from Karen MacGregor, who is accused of befriending vulnerable girls before pimping them out for sex with Asian men.

During cross-examination, she accepted she visited one of her alleged victims in a children’s home.

MacGregor said that a woman called ‘Kaz’ recorded in documents as visiting a Rotherham children’s home to see the girl ‘had to be me’.

But in cross-examination at Sheffield Crown Court, MacGregor insisted she could not recall that incident or other recorded occasions where she had gone to the see Girl B in children’s homes in the mid-1990s.

MacGregor, 58, of Barnsley Road, Wath, said she could not remember ever meeting the now 36-year-old woman, despite making attempts to do so since being arrested.

Michelle Colborne QC, prosecuting, said MacGregor was ‘lying’.

MacGregor said: “You can suggest as much as you want. I can’t recall going to the children’s home. I can’t recall this girl.

“I wanted to go to a hypnotist but was told not to.”

The woman, known as Girl B, alleges she lived with MacGregor as a teenager and said she was made to have sex with men in exchange for heroin.

Evidence from all the defendants in the case has now finished.

The jury was told they will hear closing speeches from the prosecution and defence barristers next week before Judge Sarah Wright sums up the evidence in the trial, which started in December.

http://goo.gl/MdXNye

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San Francisco’s largest taxi firm, Yellow Cab Co-operative, has filed for bankruptcy.

The independently owned co-op began operations in 1977, formed after the bankruptcy of the Yellow Cab Company with the intention of getting the company’s drivers back on the road.

Today it operates nearly a third of the city’s 1803 taxis, with 1100 drivers.

However, in a letter to shareholders its president Pamela Martinez blamed “serious financial setbacks” and “business challenges beyond our control and … of our own making”.

Another statement said an unusual number of accidents played their part.

But many reports pin the blame on the success of ride share apps Uber and Lyft – both founded in San Francisco. The firms continue to drop their prices and expand their fleets. In early 2015, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick claimed the company’s revenues in San Francisco were about $500m a year.

http://www.thenews.coop/101972/news/co-operatives/uber-victory-san-francisco-taxi-co-op-files-bankruptcy/

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WARRINGTON

Taxi CCTV installation tipped to reduce assaults and malicious complaints

PROTECTION from verbal abuse, assaults and malicious complaints will be improved for taxi drivers following CCTV vehicle installation.

Etech Installations is carrying out the project after being selected by the council in a move tipped to deter criminal activity and enhance public safety.

The implementation date of the cameras is March 1.

Installation will cost in the region of £400-£450 but Ian O'Connor, managing director of Etech, which is based on Thelwall Lane, insists it will have a positive impact.

"It will keep everyone safer – if you start behaving stupidly you will be on camera and you only have yourself to blame," said the 47-year-old.

"We are also putting signage into the car so when people get in they will have no doubt they are on CCTV.

"The driver is covered but it works for the passenger too – this is a breakthrough and I am very confident of the project. 

http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/14253892.Taxi_CCTV_installation_tipped_to_reduce_assaults_and_malicious_complaints/

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WORCESTER

 PEOPLE across Worcester are being asked for their views on efforts to crackdown on shoddy taxis around the city.

Worcester City Council wants to launch a new drive to improve the standards of cabs, including safety tests every six months rather than yearly.

As your Worcester News revealed in December, an investigation found nearly 170 cabbies failed key 'compliance tests' during just 12 months with faulty brake pads, illegal tyres, defective lights and expired MOTs among a catalogue of issues.

Under the plan every single hackney carriage and private hire driver will be asked to report to an independent testing centre in Blackpole every six months for the tests.

Depending on the problem those who fail face being removed from the road.

Until now the cabbies only had to do the compliance tests once a year, despite some vehicles doing a staggering 100,000 miles per annum.

Even parliament has decided that councils, which rule over taxis, can ask drivers to surrender their vehicles three times a year without fear of legal action. 

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/NEWs/14254574.Get_involved_in_Worcester_City_Council_s_crackdown_on_taxi_standards/

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SOUTH WALES

AN 85 year-old woman who was thrown from a taxi which was driven off while she tried to get in has suffered life-changing injuries.

South Wales Police and her family are now appealing to the driver to come forward, while Swansea Council, which licences taxis, is also carrying out an investigation.

Eirwen Ferguson, from Sketty, was in Morriston Hospital over Christmas in what turned out to be a three and a half week stay. She now has to wear a hearing aid after damaging a ear when she was thrown to the ground at the Oystermouth Road Tesco store at around 6pm on December 14.

Her daughter Liz Almond said: "My mum, a disabled lady, and two friends got a white taxi from Tesco. The other two ladies got in and my mum put her left leg in the well of the back of the taxi and the driver drove forward. She was knocked on to the concrete road, full length backwards, hitting the right side of her head on the concrete. She was dazed and crying. Her glasses and walking stick went flying."

http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Pensioner-injured-thrown-taxi-Tesco-car-park/story-28673445-detail/story.html