A 50-year-old Margate taxi driver has been jailed for seven years for the rape of a teenager.

Martin Miah, of Grosvenor Gardens had denied the offence but was convicted by a jury at Canterbury Crown Court.

Prosecutor Edmund Fowler told how the attack happened in 2015 when Miah was drunk.

Miah was a taxi driver. Stock image.

Miah claimed the victim was “probably having a little dream or something” and said no sex had taken place.


He said he was “really drunk” and had fallen asleep fully clothed and was “shocked” when he was later accused of the rape.

But the jury rejected his account and found him guilty of the attack.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders' register.

http://goo.gl/gN27B9

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CIRENCESTER

 TAXI drivers claim to have been left ‘scrambling to make ends meet’ with the Market Place revamp having swallowed up most of their spaces.

Beginning in February, the work to improve the centre of Cirencester for pedestrians has meant there are now only two allocated spaces in the Market Place with around 20 taxis regularly vying to use them and 82 registered across the district.

In February, the town council told the Standard that despite the cuts to the rank in the centre, taxi spaces had been provided in South Way, while there is also a rank near the library in The Waterloo. 

 However, Mark Boulton, owner of Centurion Taxis, said buses often take up the spaces allocated in South Way while the spaces in The Waterloo are “just too far away” for elderly and disabled shoppers who make up much of their trade.

“A lot of the cabbies are just scrambling to make ends meet at the moment,” he said.

“We buy our licences from Cotswold District Council, which entitles us to have a taxi rank, which we don’t really have.”

Adrian Chapman, another driver, said: “I’ve done it 30 years, you’re still getting the same customers you had years ago.

“They like to do their shopping, wander up to the Market Place and get a taxi.”

Many drivers are also frustrated by the lack of signage, indicating where the spaces are, which has been made even less obvious by the construction work.

Mark, who has been driving a taxi in Cirencester for more than 25 years, said: “They took down the sign [for the Market Place rank] eight years ago, along with the telephone, and never replaced it.

“Nowhere else in the country would you find a town without a sign saying: ‘Taxi Rank’”.

To try and improve the situation, some cabbies recently coned out a temporary rank outside the parish church.

Craig Lucas, owner of Phoenix Cabs, said: “What me and a few other taxi drivers did was when they put the cones out [for the diverted route through the Market Place], we angled them a bit so you could fit three or four taxis back here.” 

http://goo.gl/aqnvU7

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 CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a taxi booking office opposite Burnley bus station have been accepted.

It was decided at a recent Burnley Council planning meeting that the former takeaway premises near the corner of Croft Street and Red Lion Street would be used as a taxi base. 

 The premises include would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and bank holidays.

The plans would generate six full-time drivers, six part-time drivers and two full-time operators. 

 The taxi office received mixed opinions after a petition of 27 hackney driver signatures was received by the council opposing the plans.

Reasons for objection included a private hire booking office already situated on Croft Street and the lack of 24 hour CCTV coverage on site.

In a letter to the council, a Hackney Drivers Association Ltd spokesman said: “We objected to the proposal on the basis that the application site is near a junction and there is regular traffic of buses, hackney vehicles, taxis and other private vehicle users.

“Therefore taking account of busy traffic flow throughout the day this will have impact on public safety.”

There was also concerns about picking up fares from outside the office on double yellow lines.

However the council received a petition of 74 signatures from residents and a petition of 24 bus driver signatures in support of the taxi office.

Reasons in support of plans include making use of land that has been vacant for a decade.

Councillor Shah Hussain, who represents the area on the borough council, said: “I appreciate that the space does need to be used and it shouldn’t be left empty, but is there a need for more cab drivers?

“I made my feelings clear to the council that it would have an affect on the taxi drivers nearby.

“The needs of the market are already being met and I believe that an influx in drivers could have an affect on those already in the business.” 

http://goo.gl/jQ2oxg