Wolverhampton Council have given a taxi licence to a driver successfully prosecuted for fraud by a neighbouring local authority, it has been revealed.

Officials ignored a warning that the driver broke the terms of the licence granted to him by Sandwell Council by working out of the area covered by the badge, the city's Crown Court was told.

Several other drivers caught in the same purge and dealt with at a magistrates court were also given licences by Wolverhampton City Council, it was claimed.

Aklilu Tedros pleaded guilty to fraud and received a four month prison sentence suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to do 80 hours unpaid work and pay £800 towards the cost of the case after he elected trial but admitted the offence on the day the hearing was due to start.

The 37-year-old father of four from Eritrea was given a private hire taxi licence after applying to Sandwell Council in March 2015. The local authority – like Birmingham but unlike Wolverhampton – only gives licences to those based and working in the borough.

Tedros, from Gregory Avenue, Weoley Castle, confirmed he would be doing this and gave the name of the local firm he would be working for.

Hours after getting the licence he joined a Birmingham taxi company and took his first job.
"He never worked for the taxi company he named in Sandwell and was never going to, " said Mr Mark Jackson, prosecuting. He explained there was far more work for drivers in Birmingham but the Knowledge test was easier to pass in the smaller, neighbouring borough of Sandwell. Mr Jackson continued: "He never learnt the Birmingham Knowledge and was not subject to Birmingham licensing restrictions."

The defendant was caught in a crack down by enforcement officers who discovered his licence did not allow him to work in Birmingham. Sandwell were alerted and launched an investigation.

He handed in their badge but was then given a licence by Wolverhampton City Council. Mr Jackson disclosed: "They were told of his breach but that did not seem to matter."

Mr Richard Davenport, defending, conceded: "He knew what he was doing was fraudulent but he did it because he knew others were doing the same thing. It is very difficult to say how much money he made from the fraud."

Tedros was told by Judge James Burbidge QC: "You have committed a serious crime. You are a resourceful man who escaped from your country of birth because of the persecution of Evangelical Christians. This was a deliberate fraud and it may be that people around you were committing the same fraud."

Wolverhampton council has vastly increased the amount of money it receives from the issue of private hire licences after deciding to grant them to drivers working both inside and outside the borough. Critics have claimed the facility is being used as a 'cash cow' - a suggestion denied by council officials.

The local authority made over £1.2 million handing out private hire licences in the last year after netting £416,070 during the previous 12 months. In the year 2012/13 it granted just over 600 private hire licences. This figure rose to almost 3,000 last year.

A spokesman for Wolverhampton Council said: “When Mr Tedros applied for his licence with us, we were notified by Sandwell Council that there was a court case pending against him. In accordance with our procedures, We concluded that the allegation posed no imminent risk to public safety and the licence was granted. We have received no complaints about Mr Tedros in the 12 months since he got his licence. We have kept a close eye on the court proceedings and N
“Now that he has been convicted of the offence it will automatically trigger a licence review.”

A fraud conviction would ordinarily result in a licence being revoked, however each case is judged on its specific circumstances and we cannot predetermine what the outcome will be here.”

A spokesman for Wolverhampton Council said: “When Mr Tedros applied for his licence with us, we were notified by Sandwell Council that there was a court case pending against him. In accordance with our procedures, We concluded that the allegation posed no imminent risk to public safety and the licence was granted. We have received no complaints about Mr Tedros in the 12 months since he got his licence.

We have kept a close eye on the court proceedings and  “Now that he has been convicted of the offence it will automatically trigger a licence review.

"A fraud conviction would ordinarily result in a licence being revoked, however each case is judged on its specific circumstances and we cannot predetermine what the outcome will be here.”

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PECKHAM

An amateur footballer raped a woman who mistook his car for a taxi after a night out while he was on bail for another sex attack.

Predator Delando Smith - who filmed one of his sickening assaults - was jailed for 16 years yesterday.

Smith, who played for non-league teams Whyteleafe FC and Carshalton Athletic as well as Brixton United, met his first victim at a bus stop in Peckham, south east London, and offered her a lift.

He took her to a house and raped her, leaving the 20-year-old with bruises and scratches all over her body.

She reported the attack to police and the car was identified as a white Nissan Qashqai, and vehicle registration inquiries led police to Smith.

He was arrested on suspicion of rape in November 2015 and released while officers investigated the allegations - but while on bail he struck again.

In the second attack, in January 2016, Smith was in his car in Clapham High Street, south London, when his 21-year-old victim got in mistakenly thinking it was a taxi. Smith then took her to a car park and sexually assaulted her.

He was arrested on February 2 2016, but claimed that sex was consensual - and charged the same day.

Smith's phone was seized and videos showing the attack on the second victim were found.

He was found guilty of three counts of rape, one count of sexual assault by penetration and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent at Croydon Crown Court.
Smith was sentenced to 16 years in prison with a six year extension on licence.

Detective Constable Ellen Jones, of the Met's Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command said: "Delando Smith is a predatory male who targeted young, vulnerable, lone women, attacked them and filmed the offences for his own gratification."

She added: "This has been a long and emotional process for the victims and I would like to praise their courage and commitment to making sure that Smith was convicted so he would face justice for his actions."

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SOUTHWARK CROWN COURT

Five Uber drivers fleeced the ride-hailing app out of £10,000 by taking bookings for rides paid for with stolen credit cards, a court heard.

Onome Omonoseh, 19, coordinated the “sophisticated” scam by setting up fake customer accounts to book lengthy journeys, racking up large bills which were charged to stolen credit cards.

Drivers Michael Julien, 50, Dan-Alexandru Pasat, 29, Kamlesh Sagoo, 62, Ibrahim Tekagac, 35, and Mihai Toader, 32, collected the hefty fees, and paid Omonoseh in cash for his part in the scam.
Southwark crown court heard Uber lost up to £10,000 to the fraud between February and December last year.

Omonoseh, the “coordinator”, is only thought to have made £1,760 despite playing a leading role.
Mr Omonoseh was the main instigator of the frauds against Uber - creating bogus Uber customer accounts on the app and making bogus trips for which drivers were paid,” said prosecutor Stephen Requena.

“The details were taken from a website which sells credit card for fraudulent and criminal purposes.
“GPS location showed the mobile phone handset did not always travel with the drivers and in effect the fraud by Mr Omonoseh and the co-defendants was in collaboration.”

Judge Peter Ader, sentencing, said: “This was a sophisticated operation that took place over a period of time to defraud Uber of their commission and their fee. Each of of you played a part in this operation.”

He sentenced Omonoseh to eight months in a Young Offenders’ Institution and jailed Julien, who was involved in 17 fraudulent trips, for eight months.

Pasat, Tekagac, and Toader were each given six-month prison sentences suspended for 18 months and ordered to pay £500 compensation each to Uber.

Sagoo, who made the least amount of money from the scam, was given a four-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months, and was told to pay Uber £486 in compensation.

Omonoseh, from Islington; Julien, from Southwark; Pasat, from Ilford; Sagoo, of Neasden; Tekagac, from Enfield; and Toader, from Stevenage, Herts, admitted fraud by false representation.

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