A taxi firm drove more than 70 fares in uninsured vehicles because they were operating in the wrong authority area.
Family-run Central Taxis illegally used two vehicles licenced in Northumberland in the North Shields area, a court was told.
The company, which was originally based in North Shields, had expanded into a Blyth office but left it unmanned and diverted all customer booking calls back to North Shields.
They then used two Northumberland-registered taxis - a Mercedes saloon and a Skoda Rapid saloon - for at least 78 fares in North Shields, rendering their insurance void, a court heard.
After receiving complaints, an inspector from North Tyneside Council’s taxi licencing department visited their offices in June 2016 and caught them red-handed.
However, instead of clearing-up their act, the company, which has been trading for 60 years, was caught again by the same inspector just 13 days later.
Now, Graeme Kennedy, who heads-up family-run Central Taxis, has been fined £1,000 after he admitted four charges under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and two of driving without insurance.
During a hearing at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, Peter Rowbottom, prosecuting on behalf of the council, said an inspector was first sent to Central Taxis on June 10 2016.
He said: “Information is received by the Taxi Licencing Department that Northumberland licenced vehicles have been seen operating in the North Shields area.
“An inspector attends the office of Central Taxis in Railway Terrace and sees a Mercedes is picking-up a passenger outside.
“He establishes that both the vehicle and driver are not licenced in North Tyneside but by Northumberland County Council. He enters the office and inspects the records.
“He found the booking was made in North Shields but the vehicle is from and registered in Northumberland.”
The inspectors also found in the records that the vehicle had done a further 54 jobs in the North Shields area.
Mr Rowbottom said an inspector was sent back out to Central Taxis’ offices on June 23.
He said: “The inspector visits Central Taxis’ offices in Blyth. He finds it closed and all locked-up, so he rings the Blyth office and it’s answered by a call taker in North Shields.”
The court was told the inspector went to the offices in North Shields and again saw a Northumberland-plated taxi operating.
Mr Rowbottom said: “The inspector spoke to the passenger in the taxi and she said she booked the journey in North Shields, not Blyth.”
Again, records for the vehicle were checked and it was found that, between June 1 and June 25, 24 journeys had been booked and undertaken in the North Tyneside area.
Mr Rowbottom added: “The council got in touch with Enterprize Insurance company and they said those journeys would have been void because, they said, the driver doesn’t hold the appropriate licence.
“Well, they don’t, because they’re licenced for Northumberland but they’re operating in North Tyneside.”
Mr Kennedy, representing himself, said they had never intended to put members of the public at risk.
He said: “I’m not some boy racer trying to avoid insurance. In that past five years, we have spent more than £500,000 on insurance. The company is in £50,000-worth of debt and I couldn’t afford to pay more staff at the Blyth office.”
Central Taxis was also ordered to pay £175 costs and a £100 victim surcharge.
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/north-shields-taxi-firm-rapped-12497096
----------------------------------------------
SOUTH WALES
Parents of a five-year-old girl claimed she tried to walk home alone after being left outside a closed school by a taxi.
Little Phoebe Allen had to walk on narrow country roads as she headed home alone from Talley CP School, which had been closed for an inset day, before managing to find a Good Samaritan to take her the three miles to her mum.
Phoebe's mother, Rachel, said she was not informed of the inset day, and is now withdrawing her children from the 44-pupil Carmarthenshire school near Llandeilo.
She told the South Wales Evening Post : "It was just like any other day, I got her fed, washed, and ready to go," she said. "I walked her to the bus stop and she got on the minibus. The driver waved and I went inside.
"Later, there was a knock on the door and a woman said 'I think I've got your daughter in my car'."
Mrs Allen added: "The woman was loading her own children into the car when Phoebe found her and asked if the woman could drive her home.
"She picked the right person, and she didn't try to walk the whole way, thank goodness.
"I can't believe the school could do that. My daughter could have died, been hit by a car, kidnapped, got lost in the cold, anything could have happened to her. She's only five."
Dad, David, added: "Phoebe's so clever, sometimes too clever.
"It's hard to believe the school didn't inform the transport company."
The transport is organised by Carmarthenshire Council, whose Head of Transport, Steve Pilliner said: "The council is sorry to hear of this matter and is in the process of fully investigating."
A spokeswoman from taxi firm M and J Llangadog Cabs said the firm was not at fault, adding: "It is the parents' job to inform us of inset days.
"Why was she at the bus stop that day?"
In the Welsh SWWITCH home to school transport code of conduct it states that transport operators should "never drop the pupils at the school without formally handing them over to a responsible member of staff".
When asked why this had not been done on Monday, January 16, the spokeswoman added: "Sometimes there's people about, sometimes there's not."
Rachel and David are taking both Phoebe and their nine-year-old son, Oliver, out of Talley CP School to attend a different primary.
"It was my daughter's life at risk, she's never going back there," said Rachel.
Sheila Speake, school governor and grandmother of three children in the school, said: "There were three school letters in November, December, and January about the inset day, also on school website and on the school community website, and on the school notice board in the school."
She added one of the letters contained details about a school trip to London, which was why there was an inset day, including details of the closure, which, she says, "suggests they had been informed about the inset day".
At the time of publication, Talley CP School had not responded to questions .
-----------------------------------------------
AUSSIE LAND
Taxi drivers could donate a staggering $2.3million to support One Nation in Queensland's upcoming state elections after Pauline Hanson vowed to take on Uber.
Taxi drivers reportedly plan to donate $720 each to Ms Hanson's political party following a rank-and-file meeting in Brisbane on Tuesday.
The huge donation could equate to more than $2.3million if all 3,265 licensed taxi drivers unite behind the right-wing party.
According to the ABC, taxi drivers believe the money will be raised in the next few months.
Cabbie Peter Conohan said 3,000 t-shirts had been printed with the slogan: 'I support taxis, Pauline Hanson's One Nation.'
'We've all had enough,' he said. 'Pauline is a worker, she voices her opinion very verbally when everyone else has put their head in the sand.
'We will put a slush fund forward ... to support Pauline Hanson in her effort to leave a footprint with the Government and help the taxi industry.'
----------------------------------------------
Every year the council’s licensing committee meets to discuss the potential of allowing drivers the chance to put up their charges.
And this year all 133 taxi operators of the view that the market was so depressed fares should stay put – unless something happened to make fuel prices jump substantially.
Representatives from Cowal, Oban and Kintyre reported that business is so poor that many operators are already discounting the maximum fares to customers.
Taxi drivers from three Oban firms were all in agreement yesterday that prices should not go up.
Fraser Galt of Lorn Taxis said: “Business is terrible so putting the fares up would be a bad idea. It has not been good at all.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/1147307/argyll-taxi-drivers-put-the-brakes-on-fare-hikes/
No comments:
Post a Comment