WREXHAM

A former North Wales Police Superintendent, Rob Kirman, has been fined after pleading guilty to a public order offence, a criminal damage offence and a common assault on an Apollo taxi driver.
These were offences which occurred whilst he was off duty in Wrexham on Saturday, August 12th last year.

At sentencing at Mold Magistrates Court on Monday Mr Kirman was fined £733, ordered to pay £366 compensation to the taxi company, £200 compensation for loss of earnings to the taxi driver and £85 court costs.

As well as the criminal investigation, North Wales Police also conducted an internal misconduct investigation and although Mr Kirman has resigned from the force last week, a public misconduct hearing will take place at North Wales Police Headquarters, Colwyn Bay, at on March 1st

The circumstances of this incident have also been referred to, and shared with, the Independent Office of Police Conduct (formerly the Independent Police Complaints Commission / IPCC) .

Assistant Chief Constable Richard Debicki said on Monday: “North Wales Police Professional Standards Department responded quickly to the allegations in this case conducting a thorough criminal investigation in order to gather the evidence which was put before the court.

Mr Kirman subsequently pleaded guilty to offences of public order, criminal damage and common assault connected with the incident, and the court has passed sentence on those matters today.”

“He has since resigned his position from within the organisation and he is no longer serving with North Wales Police.

http://www.wrexham.com/news/former-police-superintendent-fined-after-off-duty-criminal-damage-and-taxi-driver-assault-145005.html

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WARRINGTON

TAXI drivers could be required to have mandatory child sexual exploitation (CSE) training as part of extra safeguarding measures to help 'protect vulnerable members of society'.

Council officers will carry out an eight-week consultation on an updated hackney carriage and private hire licensing policy following approval from the licensing committee at the Town Hall on Monday.

Since June 2016, cabbies have been required to have CCTV fitted in their vehicles to improve the safety of drivers and passengers.

The authority also confirmed it has a 'strong commitment' to continue with the CCTV, although it will be monitoring changes at the national level closely.

In its report, the council said: "It is important that we keep our policies under review.
"CCTV now forms an important part of our commitment to safeguarding people and to detecting and preventing crime.

"The use of CCTV in licensed vehicles is continuing to evolve and develop at both a national and local level.

"It is important that our approach is flexible enough to respond.

"It is important that everyone takes responsibility for the protection of vulnerable members of our society and that sufficient steps are taken to safeguard their welfare and safety.

"A number of our drivers have attended voluntary training on CSE and continue to act in a responsible way.

"It is proposed to take further actions to protect the interests of our drivers, the safety and welfare of their passengers and to raise overall public confidence.

"A number of additional safeguarding measures are proposed, including mandatory CSE training to all existing and new licence holders."

http://bit.ly/2HuJjrs
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IPSWICH

Furious taxi drivers have forced parking firm NCP to back down after they were hit with a blizzard of tickets for dropping passengers off at train stations.

The wave of fines came after new high-tech cameras were installed in the private car park outside Ipswich Station, in Suffolk.

Cameras recording vehicles using the drop-off area, with a '20-minute max' waiting time, were confused by the returning cabs, flagging them for automatic fines.

While a lack of width in the cameras' vision meant departing cars were not always picked up by sensors.

But taxi chiefs threatened to stop ferrying passengers to the busy station as the penalty notice storm turned into a full-blown crisis.

NCP, the UK's largest private car park operator, has now promised to tear up the tickets and rejig their CCTV enforcement system.

http://dailym.ai/2CzGqBS