A WIGAN taxi driver caught working for months without a proper licence or insurance is still on the road – despite having 18 points on his licence.

Darren Gallagher, who is now ferrying passengers on buses, was caught after his car crashed into Suzy’s Furniture Store, Pemberton, in May 2013 after he failed to apply the handbrake properly.

He’d been using the vehicle as a private hire taxi despite his licence to do so expiring in December 2012.

The 39-year-old appeared before Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to two offences of using a motor vehicle without insurance and two counts of driving without a private hire driver’s licence.

It emerged that he had already had six points put on his licence last September, again for driving without insurance.

This time he was fined £400 and handed two lots of six points to run concurrently.

But he successfully pleaded “exceptional hardship” so as not to receive the usual automatic ban for reaching 12 points on the licence. It was explained in court that disqualification would lead to the loss of his employment – he is now a bus driver – and home and this would hit his wife and family.

This mitigation was officially recorded because should he commit further infringements that warrant licence points he cannot use the same reasons for continuing driving again.

Julie Middlehurst, Wigan Council’s Trading Standards manager, said: “Criminal proceedings were instigated against Mr Gallagher in that he was driving a private hire vehicle when not licensed by us to do so.

“The penalty that was imposed reflects the seriousness of the matter and it is of course at the court’s discretion as to whether or not Mr Gallagher was disqualified from driving.

“In this particular case the court was satisfied that if he had lost his driving licence he would have suffered exceptional hardship.

“This however does not detract from the fact that he is not licensed to drive a private hire vehicle.”

Gallagher is certainly not on his own in being allowed to carry on driving despite have 12 or more licence points.

DVLA figures released earlier this month showed one man from Liverpool still at the wheel despite racking up 45 points.

Wigan figures on those spared a ban were not available but there are more than 16,000 people living in the borough with points on their licences and 39 banned for having 12 or more.
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The case against London cabbies » The Spectator

I lost my misguided faith in black cabs last week, on the corner of Royal College Street in north London. It was the tiniest trip — 2.4 miles from Bloomsbury to my Camden flat at 11.30 in the evening. Hard to mess up, too: empty roads, good weather and the easiest of routes — practically a straight line to my flat. To my horror, the cabbie dodged the obvious, straight route and embarked on an extended loop through the traffic-choked hub of Camden Town tube station and Camden Market.

I pointed him in the right direction and he reluctantly did a U-turn and headed up Royal College Street. Not a word of apology — and still a £11.20 fare for a ten-minute journey. No tip, needless to say.

I can’t know whether he was ripping me off or merely clueless. But either way, in the days of satnav, it’s staggeringly incompetent. And in the days of highly efficient taxi and minicab apps — like Uber, Addison Lee and Kabbee — it’s unforgiveable. The exclusive privileges given to black cabs must go.

Black cabs are the go-slow thugs of the road. Overpriced, selective in who they pick up, arrogant about their knowledge and the Knowledge, nasty to other drivers, homicidal to bicyclists, bullying to competitors, they crawl across our cities in a puffed-up bubble of self-importance that has needed pricking for years.

The myth that the Knowledge is some astounding feat of memory is no longer true, if it ever was. In 15 years, no black cab driver has ever known the quickest route to my flat. Yes, it’s impressive to learn 320 routes within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. And cabbies were particularly gratified in 2000, when scientists at University College London discovered that black cab drivers often had an enlarged hippocampus — the part of the brain associated with navigation in birds and other animals. But none of that matters with modern technology. Google Maps and TomTom can even tell you where surprise traffic jams are. No hippocampus can do that.

There’s no justification left for a predominant, controlling group of cabs, with a monopoly on being hailed on the street or from airport taxi ranks. Access to the job is controlled through oral, one-on-one exams by PCO examiners, giving them a hugely subjective role in choosing who makes the grade. Throw in exclusive parking spaces for black cabs and the right to use bus lanes, and you have one of the last unreformed trades, with heavily restricted practices, in the country.

The moment any rival tries to open up the market, black cab drivers bring the capital to a halt. A few years ago, Westminster council decided, utterly reasonably, to set up a minicab rank off Leicester Square, from Thursday to Saturday, from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. — when black cabs are inevitably in short supply. In response, a huge fleet of black cabs blocked the Mall for several hours and brought central London to a standstill.

With their exclusive rights protected by the Public Carriage Office, and their rivals held back, black cabs behave like any cartel — they squeeze their advantages for all their worth. On countless occasions, I’ve gone nuts at the little tricks drivers use to extend the journey time: gradually slowing down in approach to a green light, willing it to turn red; slowing down before a zebra crossing in the hope that a pedestrian will come along; moving off at the lights at a glacial pace; piling on infinitesimal fractions of seconds to the journey by taking a particularly wide arc into a corner; scrupulously staying out of yellow boxes painted over crossroads, apparently for Highway Code reasons, but really to catch another red light.

The list of offences goes on: refusing to take bikes because of their deep-seated hatred of bicyclists; playing Radio 5 Live at offensively loud volume; refusing to pick you up, even with their yellow light on, because they don’t like the look of you or because you’re on the wrong side of the street and they’re heading home in the other direction. If you want to see how fast black cabs can really go, watch one racing home for Match of the Day.

Worst of all is the price — they are the second most expensive taxis in the world after Tokyo. The official Public Carriage Office tariff is up to £8.40 for a mile, and up to £33 for six miles, but they acknowledge those figures rise with heavy traffic or delays.

My disastrous journey last week came in at £4.67 a mile. My regular train journey from London to Pembroke costs £20 for the cheapest single, £135.50 for the most expensive — that’s from 8.3p a mile to 56p a mile. The cheapest return flight from London to Rome on BA is £115 — 1,143 miles at just over 10p a mile.

And as the fares soar, the traffic stays stationary. The average pace of central London traffic in 2012 — 8.98 mph — is the same as it was 125 years ago, when hansom cabs were ferrying Sherlock Holmes to and from 221b Baker Street.

Gone, too, is the black cab driver’s supposed reputation for safety. That went, thanks to John Worboys, the porn star and stripper turned black cabbie, convicted in 2009 of drugging and sexually assaulting 12 women.

And then there’s the plain, surly aggression of some black cab drivers. A few years ago, a cabbie in St James’s Square threatened me after he wrongly accused me of letting my parked bike fall over and hit his cab. ‘I’ve got a good eye for faces and I’ll get you,’ he barked, jabbing his finger a foot from my nose, ‘I can make you disappear.’

He was some way from being the best cab driver in St James’s Square, let alone the world. Give me a minicab driver with a satnav and rock-bottom fares any time.

London again.



Over 170 arrests in bootleg taxi crackdown
Transport for London (TfL) has announced the arrest of over 170 people in a crackdown on illegal taxis.

Operation Safer Travel at Night is a joint venture between the Metropolitan Police Services' Safer Transport Command and City of London Police, and is aimed at enforcing a ban on unlicensed minicabs. 

The scheme mainly runs between the start of the academic year in September and over the Christmas period, with face-to-face representatives meeting with students and other members of the public to discuss the dangers of getting into so-called tout cabs.

In addition to the arrests, more than 5,000 taxis were stopped and checked as part of the operation, including private-hire firms. 

TfL's director of enforcement and on-street operations Steve Burton commented: "Un-booked minicabs put the travelling public at risk and we are committed to cracking down on this illegal and unsafe activity."

The Safer Travel at Night partnership was launched in 2002 and was set up to reduce the risk cab-related sexual assaults.
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Bolton

A VIOLENT robber who attacked taxi drivers in Kearsley and Tonge Moor has been found dead in prison.

Joslyn Seaton, aged 27, was pronounced dead in his cell at Leeds Prison on Saturday, January 25.

Seaton was given an indeterminate jail sentence for public protection in 2005 for two violent robberies on taxi drivers in Kearsley and Tonge Moor.

Police made several appeals to trace Seaton after he failed to comply with terms of his sentence.

The first appeal was made after Seaton, who was said to have links to Bolton, had served two years in prison.

He was arrested at a home in London by police who trawled records and found he had lived there.

When released last year he again failed to comply with licence conditions and was arrested again after a police wanted appeal.

Both of the robberies he was jailed for involved Seaton sitting behind a cab driver, pulling the seatbelt tightly around the drivers’ necks and demanding money before punching the drivers several times.

In the second attack, the driver was dragged from the taxi and punched and kicked.

He was jailed for a minimum of 21 months but was given an indeterminate sentence for public protection, meaning he was on a permanent licence.

A prison service spokesman said: “HMP Leeds prisoner Joslyn Seaton was found unresponsive in his cell at 4.42pm on Saturday, January 25.

“Prison staff attempted CPR and paramedics attended but he was pronounced dead at 5.16pm.


“As with all deaths in custody, the Independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation.”
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Miami

Standards for all taxis serving customers at Miami International Airport (MIA) are set to be improved after a new programme was introduced.
The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners has approved the new Ambassador Cabs Programme for the airport and at PortMiami.

Created by county ordinance and sponsored by County Commissioner Jose Diaz, the new programme requires taxicabs at both travel hubs to be outfitted with updated technology, while participating drivers must adhere to stringent customer service standards.

To take part, taxis must be equipped with credit card machines, a GPS-based dispatch system, SunPass transponders, and a digital security camera system, among other improvements.


And cabs may not be more than six years old, while alternative fuel vehicles will be given priority access to customers.

Miami-Dade, aviation director, Emilio González, says: “This is a long-overdue leap into the 21st century for our local taxicab industry, and it’s a big win for the millions of visitors who spend time and money in our community each year, as well as for the many residents who regularly travel through our global gateway.


“Taxicabs provide a critical first impression, and if we want to be considered a world-class community, we need to offer world-class customer service all the way from touchdown to take-off.”
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Reading

A TAXI was seized by detectives as part of a crackdown on illegal cabbies.

Police and borough council licensing officers stopped 36 vehicles over two days and found 14 were breaching their licenses by not having the correct driver or vehicle licence, insurance or safety documents for their cabs.

One cabbie with a non-compliant registration had his vehicle seized by officers, while a second was caught driving two months after having his licence revoked during the operation on Tuesday, January 14, and Wednesday, January 15.

Other cabbies had no insurance and no tax discs, some were not carrying a fire extinguisher or displaying internal ID or roof signs, and others had unauthorised advertising and defective windscreens or tyres. Drivers were also caught using heavily tinted windows, illegal number plates and mobile phones while driving.

A total of 26 of the taxis and private hire vehicles targeted were licensed by Reading Borough Council and 10 by other local authorities. Some of the issues were corrected at the roadside, but police and officers will be re-inspecting vehicles.


Borough consumer services leader Cllr Paul Gittings said: “Whilst past checks have shown no vehicles failing, unfortunately this most recent check has. We take public safety extremely seriously and we expect drivers of vehicles serving the public to ensure their vehicles are well maintained at all times and that they are carrying the correct documentation which is up to date and fully compliant.”
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