Licencing bosses at South Tyneside Council suspended Abdul Talukdar’s Hackney carriage licence after viewing CCTV of the incident, at the taxi rank behind McDonalds, in East Smithy Street, in South Shields town centre.
He was using foul language, including about my race.
Mr Talukdar was seen to hit an irate passenger with his cab just seconds after the got out of his vehicle.
The footage was shown in South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court as Mr Talukdar appealed to magistrates to reverse the decision.
The court heard that the man – who has never come forward to police – had jumped in the taxi as Mr Talukdar approached the rank looking for a potential fare.
The footage showed the man angrily slamming shut the passenger door of the car and taking a kick at the vehicle at 4.56am on Sunday, February 1, after being told it was not his pre-booked taxi.
Mr Talukdar reversed and drove away, but the wing of the car strikes the man as he leaves the scene.
Mr Talukdar, who gave the court a care-of address of Kingston Solicitors, in Benwell, Newcastle, told the court he believed he may have hit a wheelie bin and had no idea he had struck the man, until he was shown the video by police.
He has not been charged and police investigations into the incident are still ongoing.
Debbie Lloyd, prosecuting for South Tyneside Council, said: “The incident was captured on council CCTV in the early hours of Sunday, February 1.
“It was forwarded to the council’s licensing manager, who considered that Mr Talukdar’s license should be suspended.
“It remains the council’s case that his driving fell well below the standard expected of a taxi driver in South Tyneside.”
Geoffrey Forrester, defending, said that Mr Talukdar is a father-of-three, who has worked as a taxi driver for eight years.
Mr Talukdar told the hearing he had not deliberately hit the man, but was eager to make a quick exit after feeling “unsafe” and “shaken” after being abused by him.
He told the court: “He was using foul language, including about my race.
“I reversed back as I was close to a bollard. I saw him by a wheelie bin. I thought he was going to throw it at the car.
“I was not looking at him, I was making sure the road was clear to leave.”
After police were informed of the incident, Mr Talukdar voluntarily attended the police station and was shown the footage.
He added: “I saw that I hit the person and I was shocked and embarrassed.
“I have been a taxi driver for a long time and have had to deal with abuse, but this incident was different.
“I felt scared, I was shaken.”
Ms Lloyd, questioning Mr Talukdar, said: “I suggest you were angry and you drove at him to scare him.”
Mr Talukdar denied the collision was deliberate, saying: “It looks like that, but I was very afraid. There was no one else there who would have helped me.” Mr Forrester said: “You have to be so careful when looking at a snapshot in time.
“That snapshot does not reflect well, but if you take the full reel, you see that is utterly and totally misleading.
“He is a quietly spoken, reserved man who works every hour god sends.
“Some idiot, who has never come forward, wanted to jump the queue and get in a taxi and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“When Mr Talukdar has quite properly told him to wait for his taxi, he becomes abusive.”
Mr Forrester said that Mr Talukdar’s wheels had “tilted” in the direction of the man when he reversed, leading him to shoot forward in his direction when he set off.
“There is a glancing connection at most, no injury was caused.
Paul Allen, chairman of the magistrates, dismissed Mr Talukdar’s appeal.
He said; “It’s not an easy decision, but we feel the council has acted rightly and we dismiss your appeal.”
A Northumbria Police spokesman confirmed that investigations into the matter are ongoing, with officers awaiting advice from the Crown Prosecution Service, before a decision is made on whether criminal charges will be brought against Mr Talukdar.
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/crime/taxi-driver-fails-to-get-licence-back-after-allegations-he-drove-car-at-customer-in-row-over-fare-1-7222188
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Northumberland taxi and coach drivers spared immediate imprisonment
Staff from Otterburn based Howard Snaith and Partners pleaded guilty to a range of charges including falsifying documents
Alison Snaith of Howard Snaith and Partners in Otterburn, entered her plea at Newcastle Crown Court
Taxi and coach drivers have been spared immediate jail time after admitting falsifying documents.
The staff, from Howard Snaith and Partners in Otterburn, Northumberland, in some cases failed to record the fact that they had driven hundreds of miles, for many hours, or on rest days, often prior to transporting school children.
Judge Deborah Sherwin said it had been fortunate that, driving tired, the drivers had not been involved in an accident - but agreed, despite bosses being cleared of a conspiracy to falsify information, that the cabbies and bus drivers had felt under pressure to break the law, as they feared for their jobs.
In total 18 people - including company director Alison Snaith, bus drivers and administration staff - found themselves in the dock at the multi-million pound trial for offences relating to the records kept by vehicle tachographs between June 2010 and May 2013.
A tachograph is a device fitted to some buses and taxis, which records automatically their speed and distance, along with when they are being driven.
Drivers are legally required to keep such records and, if requested, produce them on demand to transport authorities that regulate working hours.
But following an investigation by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency - which had previously looked into issues over record keeping at the fiem in 2006 - it was found there were a number of discrepancies, with some staff seemingly failing to record journeys, turning their tachographs off before clocking on or off, working on rest days but filing false paperwork, working longer than legally allowed, or not taking enough time off between shifts.
Following a lengthy trial, which was estimated to have cost the prosecution almost £1m and the defence - much of it financed by legal aid - up to £2m, most of the accused were acquitted of a “conspiracy” to falsify records.
Snaith, 59, of the Coach House in Otterburn - who was suffering from cancer at around the time of most of the offences in 2010 - did however plead guilty to perverting the course of justice after, in 2013, producing false tachographs relating to the earlier time.
At York Crown she was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, and 150 hours of unpaid work.
Byron Dodd, 51, of Burns Avenue in Blyth pleaded guilty to three counts of falsifying records and two two of using an instrument knowing it to give false readings.
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/northumberland-taxi-coach-drivers-spared-9096008
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BOLTON taxi drivers were investigated last year for offences including grooming, sex crimes against children, drug dealing and slapping a child passenger, a report has revealed.
In 2014, 69 cases against private hire drivers and four against hackney carriage drivers were referred to Bolton Council — some have been through the courts while others are subject to ongoing police investigations.
The report, the first of its kind, has been published by Bolton Council's Licensing and Environmental Regulation Committee (LERC) and includes a case about an an ice cream van licence which was refused because the applicant was being investigated for exposure.
Asif Vali, chairman of the Private Hire Operators' Association in Bolton, said the public "are safe" using taxis in the town.
Mr Vali said: "This is a small percentage of cases out of 1,400 drivers in Bolton. We work in an appropriate manner and adhere to all the rules that are in place.
"You will get a minority that flout the law and they deserve to be prosecuted and, in many cases, deserve to have their private hire licences revoked.
"We can assure you that the public are safe using taxis in Bolton."
A source on the LERC said the number of cases reported last year had increased because of "better co-operation" between police and the council's licensing team. Some of the most serious cases were heard before the director of environmental services, Malcolm Cox.
They included three private hire drivers had their licences revoked by the director, for offences of grooming, sexual assault with a child and sex offences with children.
Two others were suspended in March, one for possessing drugs with intent to supply and the other as part of a police safeguarding investigation.
A third driver was suspended in April after being accused of sexual assault.
A hackney carriage driver was stripped of his licence for drug dealing, while one's future is pending the outcome of a police investigation into an affray with an iron bar.
Bolton Council says some of the alleged offences referenced in the report took place in taxis, while others did not.
Cllr Anthony Connell, chair of the LERC, said the committee was happy that taxi companies were making the necessary checks on drivers when hiring them.
It is thought that changes in approach have resulted in drivers having licences revoked where previously they may have been just suspended.
Cllr Connell said: "We have actually had quite a big improvement from the companies.
"We were quite happy that the checks were up to the required standard."
Only last week, driver Kamran Ali, aged 43, of Southwood Close, Great Lever, was jailed for a year for sexually assaulting two women, aged 17 and 24, in his taxi in two separate incidents in March last year.
Earlier this month, private hire drivers Absar Ahmed, aged 34, of Orchid Avenue, Farnworth, and Irfanbhai Malatgar, aged 34, of Halliwell Road, were fined for picking up fares off the street without having a hackney carriage licence.
The pair are still to learn whether their taxi licences will be revoked.
The LERC dealt with 15 private hire drivers, including two suspended for four weeks each for slapping a child passenger and racial abuse respectively.
Among the licences revoked were for drivers accused of making inappropriate sexual comments, money laundering, benefit fraud and dangerous driving.
A sub-committee which deals specifically with matters of a sexual nature or domestic violence heard cases against private hire drivers accused of rape, domestic violence and inappropriate behaviour towards women
A second sub-committee, which deals with driving convictions, stripped two private hire drivers of their licences, suspended 22 and warned 19 others.
It also suspended one hackney carriage driver for two weeks and wrote a warning letter to a second.
A Bolton Council spokesman said: "The council's licensing committees may revoke a taxi driver's licence or refuse a new application if they feel that they are not a fit and proper person to hold a licence. They can also suspend licences for a certain period of time.
“The burden of proof for licensing decisions is on the balance of probabilities. Licensing authorities will take into account not only criminal records, but also intelligence held on that person by police, council or third parties, their history of compliance with licensing and their previous behaviour as a taxi driver."
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/12908055._/
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