PERTH

A taxi driver who sexually assaulted a teenager as payment for her fare said he thought it was fine to do so because she had smiled at him.

Mark Smith was on his first shift when he drove the girl to a quiet rural road and groped her after telling her she could pay with "a kiss and a cuddle".

Smith admitted he was then planning to overcharge the terrified girl for her fare in order to pocket the excess cash.

But the 18-year-old fled from his cab and hid in the bushes before reporting the incident to police.

Appearing at Perth Sheriff Court on Thursday, Smith was found guilty of the sex attack.

He was placed on the sex offenders register and sentence was deferred by Sheriff Valerie Johnston for the preparation of social background reports.

Smith told Perth Sheriff Court: "I initially said to the girl 'don't worry about counting your money, a kiss and a cuddle will do'. She smiled at me and certainly never refused in any way.

"I moved towards her without any sort of attack or threat and she never tried to push me away and never said anything, shouted anything or screamed anything.

"I moved my upper half, going in for a cuddle. I put my arm around her neck and put my hand on her right thigh. When she gave me the initial smile that was my signal that she was more than willing to give me a cuddle.

"That smile from her when I suggested a kiss and a cuddle suggested she was willing to consent. The intent was to take her home but she was out the car so quickly.

"It was just a moment of madness really. It was completely out of character. I don't know what came across me. I fully accept that was the wrong thing to do.

"A taxi driver is meant to be responsible and get her home safely. If she hadn't smiled there was no way I would have. That was the only reason I had gone towards her."

Smith said the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had initially told him she might not have enough money to pay the fare back to her Perthshire home.

Smith said he estimated the fare at between £9 and £12 but said he planned to charge her £15 and would only declare £10 to his company, keeping the rest for himself.

The 40-year-old, who has a young family of his own, admitted he was old enough to be his victim's father and said: "It's had a major impact on my personal life."

The court heard he lied repeatedly during a police interview and denied anything had happened until eventually breaking down and telling officers he had groped the girl in his cab.

Sheriff Johnston said: "Her reaction was dramatic. She hid in the bushes afterwards to keep out of his way. I do not accept there was any reasonable belief this girl consented."

http://news.stv.tv/tayside/1323994-taxi-driver-sex-attack-on-perth-teenager-short-who-was-short-of-fare/
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UBER  UK

The boss of Uber has become the victim of horrific trolling from black cab drivers including comments on rape and her being run over.

Jo Bertram, the UK general manager of the private hire company, has been victimised by the drivers on social media as tensions between the company and taxi drivers step up.

In May, one London cabbie even made comments about the boss being aroused by rape in a conversation thread about passenger safety in the cars.

On Twitter, black cab driver Henry Kaczorowski, 49, wrote: 'Wonder what she must feel every time a woman gets is sexually assaulted in an Uber car.

'I wonder if she gets a little tingle between her legs,' reports The Sunday Times.

Another cab driver, calling himself taxi driver Al Mac, tweeted that he hoped Bertram gets 'run over' by a Toyota Prius, the vehicle that most Uber drivers drive.

Uber said that the tweets were concerning and have 'no place in today's society'.

They told the Sunday Times that the negative comments are far outweighed by the huge support they get from their riders and 'driver partners'. 

The animosity towards the company comes because many London cab drivers have been massively undercut since the company arrived in the market. They have taken to calling them 'scabs' and 'rats'.

They feel the company has an unfair advantage as Uber drivers are not subject to the same licensing restrictions and do not have to sit 'The Knowledge', an intense test that shows black cab drivers know their way around London.

Uber drivers generally use satellite navigation systems to get around. 

Cabbies feel as though Transport for London should be doing more to regulate Uber and level the playing field. It's led to jokes online that they acronym, TfL stands for Totally Failing London.

London is not the only place where controversy has surrounded the company, which only operates in major cities around the world.

In Paris, strikes over Uber led to vandalism as taxi drivers in the city overturned one of the cars. In Marseille, they burned tyres in the streets. The protests were against a car-sharing service called Uber-Pop and the company agreed to suspend the service to stop the civil unrest.

Uber France CEO Thibaud Simphal and Uber Europe General Manager Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty were arrested after concerns over the legality of the service. 

There are similar problems in New York as there are in London and the authorities have seized hundreds of Uber cars this year for picking up people on the street, which they are not allowed to do.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3149898/I-hope-run-Black-cab-drivers-target-Uber-s-female-boss-sick-Twitter-trolling.html#ixzz3f5JD5Ryn
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UBER CANNES

The other Riviera ruckus came when the “influencers” tried to get out of town while French taxi drivers were striking, blocking airports, burning tyres, smashing windows and harassing Uber drivers. They were protesting competition from the cheapest and least regulated Uber service, UberPop, which is illegal in France. (Two Uber executives were indicted there last week.)

In Cannes, the Uber app also included helicopters, so well-heeled media barons, fearing No Exit, began summoning choppers to go to the airport, with surge pricing at €800. 

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/us-spying-allegations-and-taxi-revolt-over-uberisation-add-fuel-to-french-heatwave-1.2274532
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SCOTLAND

MORE than 300 police officers have been drafted in to target 662 firms with gangland links. They include taxi firms, beauty salons and garages. 

 A TEAM of elite officers are to launch a month-long blitz on businesses being controlled by
organised crime gangs.

More than 300 police officers have been drafted in to target 662 firms with gangland links. They include taxi firms, beauty salons and garages.

Police Scotland will launch the first wave of raids as part of an operation codenamed Harpina tomorrow morning.

Officers will be supported by investigators from HMRC, the Department of Work and Pensions, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Borders Agency, Trading Standards and Environmental Health.

Raids and searches will also be carried out on firms for evidence of vice, drug dealing, firearms, money laundering, human trafficking, cigarette smuggling, counterfeiting, theft and cyber crime.

The hitlist includes the 3700 men and women who police say are part of 232 gangs running crime in Scotland.

Crime syndicates have taken over seemingly legitimate firms to launder money, fund criminal activities or bypass government regulations, similar to Gus Fring in TV hit Breaking Bad, who used his Los Pollos fast food chain as a cover for distributing drugs.

The value of organised crime in Scotland is said to be about £4billion a year.

The man heading Operation Harpina, Detective Chief Inspector Gary Mitchell, said: “There’s a vast amount of money being lost to organised crime in Scotland.”

The crackdown is part of the Scottish Government’s new strategy on organised crime, which was launched last month.

DCI Mitchell added: “We’re also asking the public to question why they use these places and ask who is really being harmed.”

The gangs being targeted are divided into three categories – principals, who are gang bosses; members, who commit crimes; and associates, who launder proceeds.

Most gangs are in the west of Scotland, with 70 per cent operating there. About 18 per cent are in the east and 12 per cent in the north. Crime groups have recently moved into waste management, pensions and environmental subsidies and pay-day loan companies.

The Scottish Government said: “Serious organised crime costs the Scottish economy billions of pounds each year.”

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/elite-police-team-launch-month-long-6003643
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NORTHUMBERLAND

Team Terraclean will head from Ashington to Nice before extending their trip to Morocco in a bid to raise £10,000 for MacMillan Cancer Care

Starting in Northumberland on August 13, Team Terraclean – comprising Phillip Dowd, Gary Wood, Bob Bathgate and John Bowen – will travel to France to take part in the TwoBall Banger Rally, which then passes through Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Monaco in a 1,200 mile route.

But this year, buoyed by their win in 2014, the boys are hoping to double the run - travelling on to Morocco as part of a bigger and better challenge in a bid to raise £10,000 for MacMillan Cancer Care.

“Last year the organisers told us to come back bigger and better,” said Phillip.

The 35-year-old works for part of Cramlington-based Randstad TerraClean Service Centre network, which is what brought the team together.

Nicknamed Maggie, the same clapped out taxi that blew its head gasket last year will be the team’s home over the four day long race.

However, rather than to rely on a dodgy engine the team has created a 12ft-tall monster truck by joining the taxi body to the chassis of a Land Rover Discovery, adding to the ‘bigger and better’ theme.

Phillip said: “So far we’ve spent about four weekends working on it but there’s only five left until the race, we’ve got a lot of preparing to do.

“It’s not just a case of putting the taxi on top of the Land Rover, you’ve got to make sure the gears are lined up - it’s a lot of work.

“Driving to Africa in a vehicle with no air-conditioning during the height of summer is an endurance test in itself.”

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/taxi-monster-truck-carry-friends-2000mile-9584593