BOLTON

POLICE have made an arrest after a taxi driver was allegedly attacked as he was driving.

It is claimed that a passenger tried to strangle the driver.

A Metro Taxi driver in a black Hackney cab picked up a fare in Stephens Street, Breightmet, and it is thought that he was attacked as he drove along Winchester Way, Breightmet at around 11.40pm on Wednesday last week.

His cab crashed into a parked car between the junctions of Aldercroft Avenue and Waggon Road.

Police confirmed officers attended the scene and found a driver with injuries to his neck and head, cuts to his hand and injuries to his face where his glasses had smashed.


A 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault and causing dangerous driving and he has been released on police bail until November 1 pending further inquiries.

https://goo.gl/IDrmHK

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The French government launched several taxi apps on Tuesday in a bid to challenge the popularity of Uber.

The French government on Tuesday launched the "Le Taxi" platform of apps which allow users to book a cab using the internet and geo-localisation.

Unlike Uber, users of the eight official apps (more on this below) can actually choose their drivers based on their proximity and their previous ratings. 

The new apps come as a result of the Thévenoud Law from last October, in an attempt to resolve conflict between private minicabs and France's cabbies.

Users of Le Taxi apps can now "e-hail" a cab in six cities - Montpellier, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Paris, Rennes, and La Rochelle - with Lyon and Niort soon to follow.

After the ride, passengers can rate their experience so other users know what to expect.

There are a total of eight new apps for customers (all free, and all pictured below) that have been rolled out, all based on a similar premise. 

Sound familiar? Of course it does - this is just how it works with Uber, the main competitor to French taxis in a battle that has seen violent protests across the country from cab drivers who are furious to be losing business to the California-based company.

The government believes that the Le Taxi is the solution, and that its apps can outpace Uber thanks to the sheer number of potential drivers who can sign up. 

At the launch on Tuesday, Transport Minister Alain Vidalies called it "the next level when it comes to the modernization of the taxi profession".  

However, several French newspapers have trialed the new apps and found them somewhat lacking when compared with Uber. 

https://goo.gl/2JvO4k

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ISLEHAM

A quick-thinking taxi driver from Isleham is urging the ambulance service to team up with taxi drivers across the country after he heroically rushed to the aid of a motorcyclist following a “horrific” accident in Ely.

The junction between Market Street and Lynn Road where the accident occurred.The junction between Market Street and Lynn Road where the accident occurred.
Kevin Henderson, who works for Ely firm A10 Taxis, was one of the first on the scene when a motorcyclist was hit by another taxi on the Market Street and Lynn Road junction on September 28.

The motorcyclist suffered severe leg injuries, but Kevin and a team of passer-bys administered first aid using the kit from his taxi and stemmed the bleeding by tying Kevin’s belt around the injured leg. He then stayed with the man until paramedics arrived and he was airlifted to hospital 30 minutes later.

“It was horrific,” Kevin said. “I got there and there was already a lady there screaming for help.

“There was about six or seven people around and I was sat there holding the belt around his leg for half an hour, but it felt like a lot longer.

“A lot of people forget that we have to carry first aid and fire safety equipment in our taxis.

“I’ve been driving taxis for just over a year and it’s the first time I’ve seen anything like that. I’m not a very squeamish person but it was horrific.

“He was very, very lucky – if the people had not have been there then I’m not sure he’d have made it.”

Witnessing the accident has prompted Mr Henderson to call for tighter links between first responders and taxi drivers – a solution he believes has been “staring everyone in the face” for some time.

“It has prompted me to speak to the ambulance service because the paramedics took half an hour to arrive and if he hadn’t had the help then it could have been a lot worse,” he said.

“It’s been playing on my mind a lot, so I’ve been doing a lot of research into it and found that it’s been called for across the country.

“Nine times out of ten taxi drivers are sat around on every street waiting for a job. If we had the training then we could be ready to help in situations like the one last week.”

https://goo.gl/91DuJC

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WARWICK

A taxi driver launched a sex attack on a terrifed passenger – before ringing her to beg for mercy.

Zaharul Hoque pulled the victim back into his cab and tried to make her perform a sex act.

But he later called to say sorry and urged her to “let me off this time”.

Hoque, 47, of Kingsleigh Drive, Castle Bromwich , was convicted of sexual assault and told a jail sentence was “inevitable”.

The victim told Warwick Crown Court she feared for her life when he dragged her back into the cab after dropping her outside her home.

She said: “His hands were all over me.

“Next thing, he’s just pushed me towards the taxi door, opened the door and I was inside.

“I was scared, I didn’t know whether he was going to rape me.

“I was thinking: ‘I don’t know if I’m going to end up in a ditch.’”

The victim escaped and called Atherstone Taxis, which employed Hoque, to report the attack.

The jury heard she then had the first of three calls from the driver, in which he pleaded: “I do apologise.

“Do me a favour, don’t complain me.

“I do apologise, I do apologise.

“Let me off this time.”

Her ordeal happened in April last year after Hoque collected her group of friends from a night out in Atherstone.

He later told police he had done nothing wrong and there had been merely been a hug and a kiss on the cheek when he dropped the victim off.

Hoque claimed she was lying about the attack and said he called her just once, to ask why she was making a complaint against him.

Giving evidence, Hoque continued to deny making more than one call and claimed the caller was not him.

After more than six hours, a jury convicted Hoque of sexual assault by a majority of ten to two.

Jurors cleared him of a second count of the same charge, involving an allegation he touched the victim’s leg.

Judge Sylvia de Bertodano adjourned the case for a pre-sentence report but rejected an application for bail.

She said: “This is an inevitable custodial sentence.

“This is a victim who is particularly vulnerable, in that she is a woman on her own in a taxi at night who had had too much to drink.

“He has fought this in the teeth of the evidence which he has repeatedly lied about and done everything he can to avoid a conviction.”

https://goo.gl/OXTKZ3

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Taxi drivers are questioning why Scarborough Borough Council wants to change the way their MOT tests are carried out.

The council is proposing that all MOT's for taxi's and private hire vehicles should be done at the councils own facility rather than at independent garages.

The proposed change is contained in the councils 'Draft Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy' which has been put out to public consultation. The document regulates the way the industry works in the borough and includes rules about .....

Section 3.4 of the new document states..

All MOT tests and vehicle licence compliance checks shall be carried out at Scarborough Borough Council’s garage, Dean Road Depot, Dean RoadScarborough, YO12 7QS.

 Any MOT tests or licence compliance checks
carried out by any other garage/testing centre on hackney carriage or private hire vehicles shall not be accepted.


Local taxi driver Will Barraclough says the proposed regulation is unfair
"It's forcing all taxis to go to the council depot for MOT testing, what this will do is remove the trade from local garages, we thinks that's £42,000 a year out of the local market, one of the biggest questions is why are they suddenly doing this?"


Will questions what difference the change will make to safety and what message it sends to the public.

"If the council say that the MOT must be done by them, why are they saying that and why is any other garage MOT inadequate, they are all trained by the same governing body - VOSA - everyone is trained the same way, why all of a sudden are local garages inadequate, what sort of reflecting is that going to paint amongst the public? Are they immediately going to think that where they are getting their car MOT'd is inadequate to what the council can offer when in fact it's the same test."

Jonathan Bramley, Scarborough Borough Council’s Environment and Regulation Manager said:

“We are aware that the proposed requirement for all private hire and hackney carriage MOT tests and compliance checks to be undertaken at our own depot in Scarborough is of concern to some of those operating in the trade. However it is for good reasons that we are proposing this change. Presently an MOT may be undertaken at any MOT certified garage, anywhere in the country, with the additional compliance checks being undertaken by our licensing officers during a two week period, twice a year. The consistency of existing MOT tests is of concern to us, particularly considering the results from snap inspections we have conducted since October 2015, where faults were found with vehicles which had only recently undergone and passed an MOT test. We do not think this is an acceptable situation for vehicles entrusted with carrying members of the public.

“The revised vehicle testing process we are proposing would combine both test elements into one comprehensive inspection at our depot. Not only will this provide consistency in terms of tests, it will negate the need for drivers to attend separate MOT and compliance visits. It would also allow us to set inspection criteria above that specified in a standard MOT test, for example the testing of fixings and equipment fitted to vehicles that have been modified to carry wheelchairs. At present there is no form of certification that assesses whether such modifications have been undertaken safely and in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions, so we could improve this significantly.

“We know that for the vast majority of licensed drivers customer safety is of paramount importance, so we hope they can understand that the changes we are proposing are simply a way of us ensuring those same high standards are maintained consistently throughout the borough.
“Consultation on the proposed changes is underway with the local private hire and hackney carriage trades and they have until 9 November to respond to it, after which the council will consider all representations before making a final decision in January next year.”

https://goo.gl/31ecS4

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