North Tyneside

'Get out now!' The curt message mistakenly sent to customers of Blueline taxi service

Blueline chiefs blame "technical error" after customers were mistakenly sent a message in which a fleet of drivers were criticised
Ian Shanks, managing director of Blueline Taxis

They say manners cost nothing, but bosses of a Tyneside taxi firm could do with a lesson in courtesy.

Customers of the Blueline hire company were given a rude awakening today after a text was mistakenly sent demanding to know the whereabouts of 70 drivers.

A message written in broken English and distributed to a number of customers on the company’s database criticised staff for not getting to work for 7am.

And after lashing out at a lack drivers, the text curtly signs off: “Get out now.”

A customer who received the text said: “It doesn’t look very good does it? It shows how nice they speak with their staff.”

Blueline chiefs today said a “technical error” meant scores of customers received the incorrectly sent message at precisely 9.03am.

During the blunder a text was sent which said: “Very busy. We needed cars from 7am, 70 less cars than 9.30am.

“Why do you think customers will use us if you don’t get them to work and school. Get out now.”

Just 13 minutes later the poorly written message was followed up with a polite text in near-perfect English.

It read: “Good morning. We are very sorry you may have received a text in error. It should have gone to our fleet to ask for drivers to come to work with the bad weather.”

When the Chronicle contacted Blueline they released a statement saying the company was a “family business” with a “family atmosphere”.

Managing director Ian Shanks said: “The message was sent as the result of a technical error and we regret any confusion it has caused.

“We issued an immediate apology as soon as we realised what had occurred and are taking robust steps to ensure this does not happen again. This was a systems failure but we take nothing for granted.

“The message we were relaying was the need to provide the very necessary service to our customers as we recognise that their need increases in bad weather.

“Blueline is a family business and we consider our work place to have a family atmosphere. We value and appreciate our staff and have strong working relationships and rapport with them on a day to day basis.

“Many of our drivers have a long service records with the company which we feel is tribute to the warm and friendly culture Blueline promotes as an organisation. The work and school run is a busy period for us and we’re passionate about getting people to their destination on time.

“However we have a slight shortage of drivers at the moment and that’s why we’ve started a recruitment driver campaign backed up by our earnings guarantee of £350 per week. Drivers who go through training at our new academy supported by Northumberland College programme will receive an accredited customer service qualification.

“This initiative will ensure that we deliver for our customers and grow as a business.”
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KENDAL

Top judges halve Kendal taxi driver's sentence following 'road rage' incident

AN irate taxi driver who deliberately "rammed" a woman's car with his minibus during a road-rage incident has had his jail sentence halved by top judges.

K Car driver Robert Allan Atkinson, 38, was suffering from stress following the breakdown of his marriage when he "rammed into" the front of Lee Bell's car outside the main post office in Kendal and hit her with a volley of abuse.

Atkinson, who was enraged because Mrs Bell's parked vehicle was making it difficult for him to perform a three point turn, caused £400 worth of damage and left her "shaken and upset" when he deliberately reversed into her car on July 23 last year.


The cabbie, formerly of Empson Road, Kendal, and now of Lynn Road, Littleport, Cambs, was jailed for a year and banned from the road for 18 months in February, after pleading guilty to dangerous driving at Carlisle Crown Court. 
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Caernarfon

A TAXI driver encouraged an underage girl to send him naked pictures of herself and attempted to arrange by text to meet her to have sex.

Colin Robinshaw, of Cambrian Terrace, Tywyn, has admitted committing three sexual offences against the same teenager, who was under 16.

The 36-year-old sexually touched the girl on one occasion, had her send him explicit pictures of herself and tried to arrange a sexual encounter between them.

The taxi driver, who has a previous conviction for sexual assault of an adult, appeared before Caernarfon Crown Court, on Monday.

He pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual activity with a child by touching her breast.

He also admitted to causing a child to engage in sexual activity by getting her to undress, take photographs of her private parts and then send the pictures to him.

Robinshaw attempted to arrange the commission of a sexual offence by encouraging her to engage in penetrative and non-penetrative sexual activity.

The court heard that the 36-year-old had been employed by a taxi company, but he is now prohibited from carrying passengers under the age of 18.

Robinshaw, who was convicted of groping the breasts of an adult woman following a trial in December last year, was given a supervision order on that occasion, but he could now face imprisonment.

Prosecutor Karl Scholz told Monday’s hearing that these latest crimes had come to light because the teenage victim’s mobile phone “revealed incriminating texts”.

His Honour Judge Merfyn Hughes QC directed that a pre-sentence report be put together ahead of a sentencing hearing on Monday, 12 May.

Robinshaw was given conditional bail until then.


He must reside at his mother’s address in Tywyn and cannot contact various named children, including his victim.
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Car and taxi collide in Willenhall smash

A road was closed for two hours after a crash between a car and a taxi.

The red hatchback and a black cab collided in Walsall Road, Willenhall at about 9.30pm last night.

The male drivers of each vehicle suffered minor injuries and were treated by paramedics at the scene.

Police closed the road until about 11.30pm while the scene was cleared.

The front ends of both vehicles were damaged in the smash.

A fire crew from Willenhall was called to the scene but was not required.


Crew commander Pete Ball said: "The drivers weren't badly injured. It was a crash between a taxi and a car but the drivers had already got out by the time we got there."