READING

A taxi driver faces fines and costs after offering to carry a covert customer illegally

Reading Borough Council licensing officers were carrying out test purchasing during the festival period last year when the offences were committed.

An undercover officer approached taxi driver Syed Hamdani, of Myrtle Crescent, Slough, in Cremyll Road, near the festival site, at about 11.30pm on 25th August 2017.

Mr Hamdani, a hackney carriage driver licensed by the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, agreed to take the covert customer to Bracknell for £60 without a booking. If the journey had gone ahead, neither the driver, car or passenger would have been insured in the event of an accident.

The 44-year-old driver was charged with illegally plying for hire and failing to display his badge.

He was found guilty at a hearing at Reading Magistrates Court on Tuesday 5th June 2018. Mr Hamdani did not attend court but made a written submission and denied the charges.


Mr Hamdani was fined £650 for each offence and ordered to pay costs of £1,420 and a victim surcharge of £65.

Cllr Tony Page, Lead Councillor for Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport, said:
“Licensing officers carry out these operations to protect members of the public from taking journeys in taxis which do not have the relevant licence.

“The driver in this case has been left considerably out of pocket after agreeing to take a passenger illegally for the sake of a £60 fare.”

https://goo.gl/XqKVHj 
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 COLNE

A CABBIE who drove into an elderly woman and didn’t stop has failed his attempt to get back his licence.

Mohammad Ayub, from Crown and Greenline Private Hire in Colne, injured the woman in January and this week his appeal to regain his taxi licence was refused.

Pendle Council officials played video footage at an appeal hearing showing the collision.

A passer-by called the police after the woman was hit in Parliament Street, Colne, who suffered elbow and knee injuries.

The chairman of the bench said Ayub, of Carr Road, Nelson, had 'shown a shocking lack of care in his driving.'

Ayub, who also had nine penalty points for three speeding convictions and subject to two other complaints the council had received against him, was described as ‘not a fit and proper person’ by the chairman of the bench. Pendle Council was awarded £250 in court costs.

Riaz Ahmed, from Union Cabs in Colne, also lost his appeal to get his taxi operator’s licence back. Ahmed, of Park Avenue, Barrowford, had been allowing unlicensed drivers to drive his taxis. He had not kept proper records of bookings, his cars were poorly maintained and the council had received complaints about his taxi company.

The chairman of the magistrates noted that there had been 16 months of complaints and warnings in respect of record keeping, unlicensed drivers and mechanical faults and that the breaches were continuing.

The court awarded Pendle Council £500 in court costs from Ahmed, for his failed appeal.

Mr Ahmed has now begun an appeal to the crown court against the decision.

Cllr Paul White, leader of the council, said: “The court said that he was trusted with public safety and there had been no improvement in his business. These two unsuccessful appeals against our decisions show that we are right to take a tough line in tackling problems with taxi drivers and operators.

“Taxi safety in Pendle is very important to us.”

Neil Watson, Pendle Council’s manager for taxi licensing, said: “There are many taxi companies in Pendle which provide a good service. But this operator and driver do not deserve to get their licences back.”

https://goo.gl/DDQwgA 
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 THAILAND

 A young woman showed why you shouldn't put make-up on in a moving car when she stabbed an eyeliner pencil into her eye.

The woman, aged in her 20s, was sitting in the back of a taxi in slow-moving traffic in Bangkok, Thailand on Tuesday afternoon as she applied some eyeliner.

But she had to be rushed to hospital after the driver accidentally shunted into the back of a pick-up truck, causing the woman to jolt forward with the pencil still in her hand.

She hit the seat in front of her and the pencil was rammed into her skull, just missing her brain.

Miraculously, her sight has been left unaffected, according to medics who treated her.

Paramedic Thanabodee Sabbodi said the crash was minor but the ''freak accident'' had caused half of the pencil to plunge into the eye socket of the young woman, who has not been identified.

He said: ''The crash happened at 5.20pm in Din Daeng area of Bangkok while the lady was putting on make-up on her way outside for the evening.

''We received a call and there was one injured female with an eyebrow pencil inserted into her left eye.

''She was in a lot of pain when we came but she could still talk to us and explain what happened. There was not a lot of blood but she had a small nose bleed.''

https://goo.gl/dCTKV5 
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 OLDHAM 

SCORES of complaints have been made against private hire and black cab drivers licensed by Oldham Council – with dozens taken off the roads.

A report presented to the council’s licensing committee states that in the past year the town hall has received 171 complaints about its drivers, operators and vehicles.

These range from accusations of dangerous driving, overcharging, and the cabby chatting on their phone while at the wheel.

The biggest issue for both hackney and private hire drivers is attitude and behaviour, which forms the basis of 70 complaints.

Second to this is dangerous driving, with 29 complaints being made about private hire drivers compared to just two incidents for hackney drivers.

Private hire drivers have also been accused of failing to report an accident, refusing to carry a guide dog, and smoking in the vehicle.

There were two complaints of "illegal behaviour" and two "sexual related" complaints – all four were made against private hire drivers.

In the past two years the number of drivers licensed by the authority has ballooned – with 300 new cabbies on the roads.

It’s a 13 pc increase from 2,193 in 2016, to 2,493 as of this May.

Since last June the authority has held 37 hearings to rule on whether to grant taxi licenses where offences or conduct issues have been flagged up.

The majority were applications for new or licence renewals. Just one was granted outright, with 23 refused and eight granted "with suspension".

There were five reviews of licences, with all of them being suspended.

And in the past year, 29 pc of licensed vehicles have failed their mechanical tests.

The committee report states: “Officers continue to work with the private hire and hackney trade to ensure effective communication and consultation takes place.”

Town hall chiefs say the main area of work currently being undertaken is with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester (TFGM) on the "harmonisation" of private hire and hackney licensing policies.

They say the "major" piece of work, which will report in the autumn, is aimed at ensuring high standards across the region, as well as consistency.

A consultation will be launched in July for twelve weeks to the trade and TFGM will undertake the public consultation alongside it.

The areas to be covered – to ensure Oldham is "consistent" – include age of vehicles linked to emissions and air quality, a spoken English test and a drivers’ code of conduct.

They will also be looking to update the "fit and proper" guidelines for determining applications and reviewing licences, improving vehicle testing standards, and a private hire operator code of conduct and safeguarding policy.

https://goo.gl/Vf5Bhx 

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Wolverhampton taxi drivers have been lambasted for talking ‘codswallop’ and told their planned protest this month is ‘outrageous’ and ‘pointless’.

Councillor Alan Bolshaw, the licensing lead for Wolverhampton council, has launched a scathing attack after taxi drivers revealed plans to hold a go-slow protest in the city on June 28 – the same day as England’s final group stage match against Belgium in the World Cup.

The drivers are protesting in a bid to pressure the council into introducing tougher licensing tests as they say they are being forced out of their jobs as thousands of licences are handed out by the council to drivers across the UK.

But Councillor Bolshaw described the drivers’ comments as ‘codswallop’ and said it was ‘pointless’ to keep protesting.

He said: “This proposed action is nothing short of outrageous.

“Protests of this nature do nothing but inconvenience the public and to plan this on the evening of an England World Cup match, when the city centre will be very busy, is a provocative act which will only serve to antagonise people.”

Campaigners claim the council have made the licensing test too easy, which has led to too many taxi drivers on the roads.

The test also takes 20 working days or less, and costs £69 – the cheapest in the region.

A total of 40 per cent of candidates fail the exam each time, the council revealed.

Councillor Bolshaw added: “The driver representatives talk about public safety being the motivation behind this action.

"This is utter codswallop, this action is about protecting an industry which for too long has been a closed shop which doesn’t welcome competition – even if the public do.

“Technology has revolutionised the taxi industry and Wolverhampton Council has been at the forefront of this step change.

“It is pointless drivers protesting to us about issues which are governed by national legislation and the fact I keep having to say this is frankly becoming tiresome.

“The law allows drivers and operators to get their licence where they wish and if people choose to come here because of our efficient and speedy system, then we are not allowed to turn them away.

“I urge the drivers to call off this futile action and if they are serious about these issues, perhaps would do better to take them up with the lawmakers at Westminster rather than once again target the people of Wolverhampton.”

https://goo.gl/3ANexq