PLYMOUTH

Six members of a gang which flooded Plymouth with almost a ton of cannabis worth more than £9 million have been jailed for 20 years plus.

Seven men in all brought the drug to the city from London in 89 deliveries over 18 months.

But police busted a huge cannabis deal in Efford last June – seizing more than £50,000 in one car and almost 10 kilograms of cannabis in the other.

Driver Peter Stewart told officers there was “s***loads” of cannabis in the car, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

Prosecutors claim that the gang brought 910 kilograms – close to a metric ton – of cannabis to Plymouth with a street value of £9.1 million.

Jailing six defendants for a total of just over 22 years, Judge Ian Lawrie said the exact amount of drugs brought to Plymouth could not be calculated. But he added the amount of drugs was “considerable”.

The hearing was interrupted as the wife of one of the imprisoned defendants collapsed at the back of the courtroom and began shouting hysterically. She was taken from the court by staff, including a trainee paramedic.

Doyle, aged 32, and Londoner Tam Tran, who refuses to give his age, worked together to bring cannabis down the M5.

Doyle used fellow Plymothians Stewart, aged 40, and Doyle’s former brother-in-law Paul Marr, aged 30, in the operation, the court heard.

Vietnamese Tran hired three London taxi drivers, Sunder Ahuja, aged 48; Abdul Shirzad, aged 48, and 41-year-old Amrik Lamba to run the drugs from the capital.

Tran was jailed for six years and three months; Doyle for five years and six months; Ahuja for three years and six months and Shirzad for two years and six months.

Stewart and Lamba were both locked up for two years and four months.

Marr was given a 15-month prison sentence, suspended for two years on condition he does 200 hours unpaid work and pays £1,000 prosecution costs.

Judge Lawrie said drugs shipped to Plymouth brought misery to the city.

Talking of the taxi drivers, he added: “These defendants chose money over the fact they were participants in a serious crime.

“Their clear good qualities and responsibilities did not inhibit their offending. These are men with children and responsibilities as parents and they therefore should have known better than involve themselves in a drug supply arrangement whereby drugs and all their attendant misery were being shipped to Plymouth.”

Doyle, of Mersey Close, Efford; Tran, of no fixed address; Stewart, of Arun Close, Efford; Lamba, of West Drayton, Middlesex; and Marr, of Connaught Avenue, Mutley, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a Class B drug between November 2015 and June last year.
 

http://bit.ly/2CPH5iJ 

------------------------------------------

BRISTOL

The mother of a disabled girl who was turned away by three Bristol taxi drivers has said she hopes taxi drivers will learn lessons after three were suspended.

Karen Tilley and her daughter Josselin were left stranded after they came out of the Hippodrome after seeing a show last November.

Mother and daughter, who are from Wiltshire, went to the nearest taxi rank to catch a Bristol Blue Hackney Carriage back to Temple Meads station, but several drivers there refused to take them, because 11-year-old Josselin is in a wheelchair.

She later posted on Facebook together with photographs of the taxis that turned her away, in a post which went viral around the city.

Bristol City Council investigated after the matter was reported to them, and now they have been suspended for various periods of time.

A meeting of the council’s public safety and protection committee this week was held behind closed doors, decided the level of punishment to be handed to the taxi drivers, but ruled that they could not be named.

Two of the drivers had their licence suspended for four months, while the other received a six month suspension.

http://bit.ly/2oHkwrw  

-------------------------------------------------

Two taxi companies in Cambridgeshire will be offering free shopping delivery for pensioners tomorrow (March 2).

Cambridge's Panther Taxis announced the move on their Facebook page earlier today.

It read: "Important Customer Announcement.

"Some of our older regular customers have called asking for help in this adverse weather we are currently encountering, which we've been very happy to help them out with.

"Our drivers are still out working and passing most places in the Cambridge area.

"If any senior citizens or vulnerable people need anything; gas or electric top ups, food fetching from the local shops, prescriptions collecting please do not hesitate to ask.

"Other than the cost of the items you require we WILL NOT charge you for this service."

Agha Ali, 30, general manager of T&T Private Hire Ltd, saw two elderly people trying to carry their shopping amid the snowy conditions in St Ives earlier today (March 1), but instead of driving past - he decided to help them.

Feeling good about his deed, he spoke to the owner of the company and asked if they could provide the service. The owner agreed.

Mr Ali, a husband and dad of a three-year-old girl, said: "I saw a couple of old aged people, and they were struggling because of the ice.

"I got out of my car, and then I almost slipped. So I asked if they needed help.

"It was a shock to them. They thought I wanted money, but I said it was just for me.

"Then I went back to my boss and asked if we could offer it - he said yes.

"We thought we'd put a bit of effort back into the community."

T&T has been operating in St Ives for eight years - it will have five drivers available for the service from 10am until 4pm tomorrow.

When asked how far the taxi service would be willing to help out, Mr Ali said: "We decided only within St Ives, but if someone needs a little bit of help outside, we might be able to help.

http://bit.ly/2oCES69 
-----------------------------------------------

 NEWBURY

Police are linking two rapes in which victims were picked up by a taxi driver or someone claiming to be one.

Two women in their 20s were raped after nights out when they were picked up in Newbury, Berkshire, Thames Valley Police said.

A 40-year-old man from Newbury was arrested on suspicion of rape in connection with the attacks and has been released while inquiries continue.

Police described the attacker as "Asian" and "slim".

The first woman was attacked after she left the Vault nightclub in Kennet Shopping Centre on 19 January this year with a friend, but ended up alone, detectives said.

She was picked up in Mayors Lane at about 01:30 GMT on 20 January.
'Use licensed taxis'

Police said the woman was raped in the vehicle at an unknown location.

A 29-year-old woman was raped on 24 February after leaving the Coopers Arms in Bartholomew Street.

Officers said she got into a taxi near the roundabout at Inches Yard at about 04:20 GMT and was driven to a property at an unknown location where she was raped.

Police described the attacker as Asian, about 5ft 8in tall, in his 30s and slim.

Det Ch Insp Matt Stone said it was possible the attacker had "confided in someone about what they have done" and urged anyone with information to come forward.

Officers urged people to use licensed taxis and to book in advance or ask proof that a vehicle or driver is licensed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-43248751