LONDON

A mother has told of the terrifying moment an out-of-control taxi smashed into her home.

Suzan Hassan, 36, was in the ground-floor kitchen of her two-storey home in south-east London when the car careered into the building as she washed her dishes.

The terraced house in Bellingham was left “uninhabitable” three days before Christmas.

Ms Hassan said she was forced to move out on December 22 after the minicab hit her home shortly before 8pm.

“I thought it was an earthquake,” she said. “Suddenly this entire car was in my kitchen. I was in total shock. Luckily the kids weren’t home.

“There were cracks going up the ceiling. I was so scared that I jumped on to the work surface and held up the kitchen ceiling.

“My neighbours rushed out and were yelling ‘get out, get out’. I hurt my back when I was thrown into the fridge.” She said the driver was breathalysed by police at the scene and found to be sober. It is believed he accidentally lost control of the vehicle.

Ms Hassan — a personal trainer and carer — stayed with relatives before being given a room in a nearby hotel by housing association London and Quadrant, which owns the home.

But the single mother said conditions in the hotel were “terrifying” because of alleged antisocial behaviour there.

She said she was so scared she took her 11-year-old daughter Yasemin to sleep in the car with her while her son Tyla, six, stayed at his grandmother’s house in Sidcup. The family have now been placed in a three-bedroom property while a new permanent home is found for them.

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 WAKEFIELD

Taxi drivers who are accused of a serious offence will have their licence immediately revoked, under new rules.

Wakefield Council had previously suspended drivers' permits if an allegation was made against them, but the High Court has now ruled that the policy, which was also enforced by other authorities, is unlawful.

The verdict came in a landmark recent case against Cardiff City Council.

While drivers who are later cleared of wrongdoing have to apply to get their licence back, they will not be charged for doing so.

The ruling also applies to cabbies who have lost their licence for medical reasons, if they can provide a doctor's note which declares them fit to driver again.

Speaking at a council licensing committee meeting on Tuesday, licensing officer Kevin Straw said: "For a long time if it came to the council's attention that a driver had been subject to an allegation for, say violence or indecency, the licence would not be revoked with immediate effect. It would be suspended.

"Once the matter came to court and was dealt with then the council would consider the position again.

"Now that that's been ruled unlawful, we can't suspend a licence now.

"If there's a serious allegation, the only way forward we can go to protect public safety is to revoke it with immediate effect."

Mr Straw said that the council had been confronted with two recent cases where the practice would be used, including one where a driver was wrongly accused.

He added: "It may be that revoking the licence is not a sustainable position if new information later comes to light.

"There might be a malicious complaint or there's a medical condition that clears up - those are two examples we've had recently that I can think of.

"If that's the case it doesn't seem fair to make them go through the application process again.

"That said, I don't think it's going to be a process that will be used very often."

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  (Reuters) - The London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC), which makes the city’s popular black taxis, named former Audi executive Joerg Hofmann as its new chief executive, succeeding Chris Gubbey who will step down next month.

Hofmann, 51, who previously worked with General Motors (GM.N) and Audi AG (NSUG.DE) for 17 years, will take over the role on Feb. 4.

LEVC, formerly known as the London Taxi Company, was bought out of bankruptcy by Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings (0175.HK) in 2013.

https://reut.rs/2W1v3gW