PLYMOUTH

A woman who sexually assaulted a male taxi driver in a bid to avoid paying for a £26.50 journey has been jailed.

Gemma Pinkerton, from Plymouth, told the man she was a prostitute and groped him up to 30 times during the trip in July last year.

The 25-year-old refused to pay the fare and then tried to blackmail the driver when he rejected her - telling him she would report him for sexual assault.

The prolific offender, who was on a cocktail of drink and drugs at the time, slapped the man and damaged his car before he threw her from the vehicle.

Judge Ian Lawrie jailed her for a total of 30 months.

You persisted by one means or another to try and get a free lift home.

You kissed him and offered him sex and went to the extraordinary lengths of groping him.

There comes a time when enough is enough and you need to be punished.

– Judge Ian Lawrie

Pinkerton, who has 36 prior convictions for 64 offences, pleaded guilty to sexual assault, common assault, causing criminal damage and making off without payment.

Mike Brown, prosecuting, read a statement from the man that said he had been left "stressed" and "shocked" by the incident.

Nicholas Bradley, for Pinkerton, said she has shown remorse and felt she was at a "pivot point" where she could start to tackle her offending.

Pinkerton was caught having sex in a park in full view of children last year and was handed a suspended prison sentence in September for outraging public decency.

http://www.itv.com/news/2016-04-12/woman-who-sexually-assaulted-taxi-driver-is-jailed/
---------------------------------------
 NEWARK

 A taxi driver whose aggressive behaviour left a female licensing enforcement officer feeling intimidated and fearful has had his licence revoked.

The decision to cancel the licence of Danny King, of Birch Road, Balderton, was initially taken by Newark and Sherwood District Council's general purposes sub-committee after a hearing in which he was accused of obstruction, harassment and intimidation as well as failing to comply with the council's taxi licensing policy.


The incident that led to the licence being revoked occurred in August 2015 when the officer was performing a routine inspection of taxis parked in Lincoln Street, outside Newark North Gate station.


She carried out an inspection and noted that the rear plate identifying the vehicle as a licensed hackney carriage was missing. Mr King declined to hand her his hackney carriage badge and accused the inspector of being racist.


The inspector stated that she then checked the tyres and found the rear tyres to be below the council requirement of 2mm tread depth. She also noted that Mr King's taxi was not displaying the required No Smoking signs.

Mr King then refused to open the boot so that she could check whether he had a suitable spare tyre, a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher and a warning triangle.

When the inspector went to leave, Mr King stood in the way of her car door so that she could not initially open it and used his leg to prevent her from closing the door.

In court Mr King denied the allegations against him in their entirety but the magistrates found his evidence inconsistent and they upheld the district council's decision that Mr King was not a fit and proper person to hold a hackney carriage and private hire licence.

Alan Batty, business manager for environmental health at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: "This case sends an important message to the taxi community that the council is expecting a good standard of conduct from taxi drivers.

"We will not tolerate bad behaviour or harassment of our inspectors as they carry out the job that they are employed to do, safeguarding the public and ensuring that they can trust in local licensed taxi drivers and their vehicles."

http://goo.gl/PWvZaN
------------------------------------------
 MANCHESTER

 A taxi driver was attacked by passengers when he pulled up to a residential street in Moston.

The man suffered injuries to his head and arm following the assault on Whitman Street just after 5pm on Tuesday afternoon.

Police said his injuries are not believed to be life threatening and he is in a stable condition.

A police cordon is currently in place along Whitman Street, which is a residential road close to Moston Lane Primary School and The Manchester College.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: “Police were called at 5.05pm in relation to an assault on a taxi driver on Whitman Street, in Moston.

“It looks as though four males were in the taxi and a couple of them assaulted the driver.

“The victim suffered some injuries to his head and arm and is currently being assessed by medics.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

http://goo.gl/5bnoJV
---------------------------------------
 ARGENTINA

 Uber, the smartphone app that connects riders and drivers, launched Tuesday in Buenos Aires without authorization, triggering protests by taxi drivers who blocked major avenues and snarled traffic.

"The Uber smartphone app will be available as of 1600 hours today Buenos Aires time, and can be downloaded at the App Store," the San Francisco-based company said on Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) .

Although ride-hailing apps have risen rapidly to become a booming industry, they face stiff resistance from traditional taxis and bans over safety concerns and questions about legal issues including taxes.

Taxi drivers often complain that Uber drivers do not pay for permits or taxes; Uber argues it is not a transport company like taxi firms -- just an app.

"What they are doing is illegal. They are not delivering transport under existing laws," Buenos Aires transport chief Juan Jose Mendez told TN television.

The Argentine capital's sprawl engulfs 13 million people, and millions more commute in and out every day.

The city alone has some 38,000 taxis.

Uber does not employ drivers or own vehicles, but uses private contractors with their own cars instead, allowing them to run their own businesses.

Licensed taxi drivers, who must undergo hundreds of hours of training in some countries, accuse Uber of endangering their jobs by flooding the market with cheaper drivers who need only a GPS to get around.

https://goo.gl/VNpTnj
----------------------------------------


 A MAIDSTONE taxi driver who caused the death of a teenager after crashing into her stationary car on a motorway has been sent to prison for 16 months.

Paul Jeffree, 58, of Marsham Street, was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court after pleading guilty to causing death by driving without due care and attention at an earlier hearing.

A jury failed to deliver a verdict on an alternative charge - causing death by dangerous driving - following a week-long trial in January.

Jeffree pleaded not guilty on that count.

He has been disqualified from driving for three years and will have to take an extended driving test before being allowed to get back behind the wheel.

The fatal collision happened on the M3 near Sunbury-on-Thames on October 10, 2014 when a Vauxhall Zafira being driven by Jeffree hit a Toyota IQ2, which was stopped in traffic.

Following the crash, the Toyota caught alight.
The driver of that car, 18-year-old Charlotte Riches from Basingstoke, suffered serious injuries and was taken to St George's Hospital in Tooting but sadly died several hours later.

Sergeant Eddie Ryan from the Surrey Police collision investigation unit said: "This was a tragic incident where a young girl lost her life as a result of Jeffree's irresponsible driving."

http://goo.gl/j35ATj
---------------------------------------
 RUSSIA

 On behalf of taxi drivers, the Federation of Russian Car Owners (FAR) has filed a complaint with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev over the low prices dictated by taxi service aggregators, the RBC news agency reported Tuesday.

The complaint by FAR said that the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) had refused to initiate legal action against Uber, Yandex.Taxi and Gett, taxi services that FAR accuses of driving down prices and monopolizing the market.

Such pricing tactics requires other market participants to adopt unprofitable pricing, RBC reported.

In July 2015, FAR asked the Prosecutor General's Office and FAS to verify that taxi service aggregators were acting in accordance to Russia's tax laws.

In March, Uber Technologies pledged to only hire Moscow drivers with commercial taxi licenses, and to share aggregated data on travel routes with city authorities.

The agreement came after Moscow's transportation department threatened in early February to ban global taxi service Uber from the city, unless the company agreed to their terms. Similar agreements had earlier been signed with taxi services Gett and Yandex.Taxi.

http://goo.gl/1157FT