Do the Government intend to kill us ?? Yes.

Yesterday in Parliament a Government minister made the allegation that to get a Cab, outside the House of Lords for a disabled member, an able bodied person has to go outside and flag it down first , presumably otherwise the Cab will not stop.

Source.=  http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2014-05-08a.273.1&s=Taxi#g275.1

Further debate here.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2014-05-08a.273.1&s=Taxi#g275.1

Knowsley

A rogue taxi operator was found guilty of using private hire vehicles without a proper licence.

William Sweeney, who traded as Acorn Cars of Kirkby, covered his activities by claiming he  was running a “flexibus service,” in which the car was being operated in the same way as a local bus.

But his claims were rejected when he appeared at Liverpool magistrates court, who found that  to all intents and purposes the vehicles were being run as taxis, and that Sweeney’s actions had put legal operators at a disadvantage.

The court heard that Knowsley Council decided to act after receiving a number of complaints  that Acorn Cars was operating a number of vehicles which were licensed by Liverpool City Council but not by Knowsley.

Officers from Knowsley carried out three “test purchases” by booking a vehicle to drive them  to a specific location - on each occasion, the car used was not licensed by the council as a private hire vehicle.

Ruth Stockley, who represented Knowsley Council at the hearing, said that although Sweeney focused his business on Liverpool, he wanted to continue using his private hire vehicles in Knowsley even though they were not licensed by the relevant authority.

She added: “The prosecution witnesses carried on the journeys requested booked a taxi and  not a bus service.

“At no time during the booking itself or during the journey were they offered, or informed that  they were using, a flexibus service.

“None of those witnesses saw signage indicating that the vehicles were being used as a  bus.”

Giles Bridge, representing Sweeney, told the court that while the defendant accepted there had  been a number of breaches of the regulations and that the flexibus service had not been perfectly  run, he had not intended to get around the licensing laws.

District Judge Wendy Lloyd told Sweeney that he had used “the guise of a flexible bus service  to run a taxi service.”Sweeney, of Gardeners View, Kirkby, was fined £500 for each of the three offences of running  a private hire vehicle without a licence.

He was also ordered to pay Knowsley Council’s costs, totalling £8,120.


http://tinyurl.com/mchm8nq
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Sheffield

Plans to change the regulation of taxi operators could put the safety of passengers at risk, Sheffield MP Paul Blomfield has warned.

He challenged transport minister Robert Goodwill in the House of Commons over the Deregulation Bill, which will allow private hire operators to subcontract a booking to another firm which could be based in a different licensing district.

Taxi drivers in Sheffield have raised fears over the plans, ministers were told.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Blomfield said: “I’ve had serious concerns raised with me by drivers in Sheffield, that these rushed changes, which will let minicab operators subcontract bookings to other operators from a different district, could see vehicles and drivers working literally hundreds of miles away from their ‘home’ licensing authority, with our licensing authority in Sheffield unable to conduct any effective enforcement against them.”

The bill, which is at the report stage of the legislation process, aims to ‘reduce burdens resulting from legislation for businesses or other organisations’.

Transport minister Robert Goodwill said he did not share the concerns about safety.

He said it would give the public a ‘better service’ if one operator was busy or did not have disabled access vehicles available because they could call in another firm from across the border.

Mr Goodwill said: “It gives people the safety they want and I don’t feel safety is compromised at all.”

Speaking after the debate, Mr Blomfield said: “The response from the minister made it clear he felt deregulation was more important than the concerns raised with me over safety.

“The rules exist for a purpose.”
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THE Mayor of Bury was left a little red-faced after her car was found to have parked in a taxi rank outside Blush nail and beauty salon.

The car, which transports Cllr Sharon Briggs to civic engagements, was spotted on Sunday, April 13 in Tithebarn Street, Bury, around 11.30am.

A former traffic warden who worked in Bury took a photograph of the car, and claimed that NSL Services, which manages parking on behalf of Bury Council, tell officers that they should not put a ticket on the mayoral car, even if it is breaking traffic rules.

A council spokesman said that the mayor was opening a new business, and that her car needs to park as close to the event for security reasons.

The former warden, who did not want to be named, said: “Just because it has the coat of arms of the door, they seem to think they can park wherever they want.

“If anyone else had parked like that, they would get a ticket. It’s not fair to the people of Bury who pay their council tax.”

It is not the first time that the mayoral car has been caught flouting parking restrictions.

Cllr Briggs was in Ramsbottom to open the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships in September last year when her car was pictured parking on double yellow lines off Bridge Street.

A council spokesman said: “The mayor was on official duty, giving her support to the opening of a new business in Bury.

“The company, Beautiful, was also holding an event to raise money for Bury Cancer Support, one of the mayor’s chosen charities.

“When the mayor is on official duty, it is necessary to park as close to the event on the grounds of security, as the mayor is wearing a valuable mayoral chain and her attendant is responsible for its security at all times.

“On this occasion, the taxi rank was empty and the mayor’s car was not causing any obstruction.”

In 2009, deputy mayor Cllr Farook Chaudhry was attacked by a drunken thug who attempted to steal his chain in Bury town centre.

UBER Manchester

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HARTLEPOOL could drive up a hat-trick in a national competition that recognises taxi drivers who go the extra mile.

And the nomination in the UK Cabbie of the Year awards couldn’t have come at a better time for charity champion John Rogers, who recently suffered a family loss.

The 47-year-old has made it into the top three of the national event, following town cabbies Stephen Picton and John Osborne who are the previous two years’ winners, and it is hoped John can keep the cabbie crown in the town.

John has dedicated the past few years helping local and national cancer causes.

These include raising funds for tragic Hartlepool youngster Becky Bell, who died from brain cancer aged just seven in 2012, and Josh Dawson, seven, also of the town, who is in remission from an ependymoma, a tumour of the brain’s support cells.

http://tinyurl.com/m42mq8e

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Bolton

A TAXI driver found hanging from Barrow Bridge took his own life, a coroner has ruled.

The body of father-of-two Asif Policewala, aged 38, was found at the beauty spot, off Barrow Bridge Road, by a passer-by just after 7am on Wednesday, March 12.

Bolton Coroners Court heard the death of Mr Policewala, a Metro Cars driver, came as a shock to his family who had no idea of his intentions.

Salma Patel, Mr Policewala’s sister, said: “This is such a shock to us. It is just unbelievable that he has done that without any indication whatsoever.”

She added: “There was no indication he was feeling down. He was his usual happy self. He made no contact.”

Statements read by coroner Alan Walsh revealed Mr Policewala had made two previous suicide attempts.

He took an overdose in 2007 and in 2012 he raised alarm with friends after attempting to gas himself at Rivington Reservoir.

A statement by Dr Eve Howarth, a general practitioner at Lever Chambers in Ashburner Street, Bolton, said Mr Policewala did not suffer from mental health illness and his suicide attempt two years ago was down to pressure he felt to pay money back due to gambling debts.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/11197853._/?

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Wirral

Local taxi drivers have successfully taken part in ‘Wirral Welcomes’ WorldHost Ambassador training and were presented with their WorldHost certificates and badges by the Mayor of Wirral, Dave Mitchell, on Wednesday, April 30.

As part of preparations for the International Festival for Business and the Golf Open in June and July this year, the taxi drivers have been honing their customer service skills, to provide outstanding first impressions to visitors to the area.

Supported by Margaret O’Donnell, licensing manager from Wirral Council, with training provided via Wirral Met College which has been funded through the Skills for Growth Bank, the taxi drivers have taken part in training over the past month.

They are the first group of taxi drivers to take part in this training and further groups will follow in their tracks.

http://tinyurl.com/nh7n6z4

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One Year on, Cornwall’s Electric Nissan LEAF Taxi Fleet Have Driven 150,000 Miles

There are many myths surrounding electric cars. One is that electric cars aren’t suitable for life outside of the big city. Another suggests that electric cars aren’t useful for fleets which cover high numbers of miles per year, like delivery firms and taxi cabs.

Cornish taxi firm C&C Taxis proves both those notions wrong. Based in the beautiful Cornish countryside in the South West of the UK, C&C Taxis was the first taxi cab operator in the UK to add an all-electric Nissan LEAF hatchback to its fleet a year ago.

With a DC rapid charge station located at the company headquarters, the firm, which operates in and around St. Austell, soon found the LEAF was a perfect fit for the majority of its fares. While the company initially started with just one electric LEAF in its fleet of ten cars, today it has five — and plans to add Nissan’s all-electric e-NV200 Evalia minivan to its expanding electric vehicle fleet when the minivan goes on sale later this year.

In the past twelve months, its fleet of LEAFs have clocked up more than 150,000 miles, carrying more than 37,000 individual fares in and around the Cornish hills.

“When we took our first LEAF a year ago we could never have imagined how successful it would have been,” said Michelle Willaims, owner of C&C Taxis. “The fact we now have five and have hit the 150,000-mile mark says it all. Investing in the LEAF has probably been the best decision we’ve ever made as a company.”

Compared to its previous vehicles, Williams says the company has saved in excess of £40,000 from its fleet-wide fuel bill. At an estimated cost of two pence per mile, C&C Taxis has the lowest running cost of any taxi company for miles around.

http://tinyurl.com/k97skwe

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Birmingham

A wife falsely claimed responsibility for her taxi driver husband’s speeding offence – and later attended a speed awareness course.

Naveed Ali was caught doing 39mph on the A4040 Bromford Lane, Birmingham Road which has a 30mph limit.

But his wife Rashaeda Ghafoor, 27, later claimed she was behind the wheel and even attended a speed awareness course.

The deception came to light once taxi licencing inspectors examined Ali’s driving records for that date and found he was actually working and on his way to collect a passenger.

The couple had appeared at Birmingham Crown Court charged with perverting the course of justice.

Ali, 27 and from Wills Street in Lozells, was sentenced to 15 weeks jail and ordered to pay an £80 victim surcharge. His wife was sentenced to 15 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, and also ordered to pay £80.

PC Steve Jevons from the Camera Enforcement Unit said: “Had Naveed Ali admitted to the driving offence he would have been offered a speed awareness course. 

"At worse, he would have received three penalty points on his licence and a £100 fine. Instead he chose to run the risk of gambling it all and putting his wife in a terrible position.

“That has now backfired and got him a worse punishment than he could have imagined. While he is serving his sentence he cannot provide for his family.’’

Birmingham taxi driver jailed for passenger sex attack.

A taxi driver has been jail for four years for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman in his cab.

Ilyas Sheikh, 34, from Yarnfield Road, Tyseley, picked his victim up on Broad Street, Birmingham in April 2013.

He drove her to the Worcestershire countryside before carrying out the attack, police said.

Sheikh, who denied the charge, was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court and has been placed on the sex offenders' register for life.

West Midlands Police said they were pleased with the sentence he had been given.

"Sheikh used his position as a private hire driver to prey on a vulnerable lone female and put her through quite an ordeal," a spokesman said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-27294711?



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Leeds

Police want to speak to a taxi driver who picked up a rapist and his victim.

A 21-year-old woman reported being attacked at an unknown address in Leeds following a night out last Thursday.

She told police she got in a taxi near a phonebox with her attacker after the incident and was dropped off outside the Hyde Park pub between 6am and 7am on Friday.

The man stayed stayed in the white taxi with the driver.

Det Insp Sean Duggan, of Leeds CID, said: “We are carrying out extensive enquiries to trace the suspect but we are very keen to hear from any taxi or private hire driver who recalls picking up a white woman and an Asian male near to a phonebox.”

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."