Taxi Driver Online

Source: Sunday Herald

A senior Labour councillor in Glasgow is under fire over his employment by a taxi firm that police claim has criminal links.

Baillie Jim Todd who chairs the controversial City Building organisation, one of Glasgow City Council’s arms-length companies, is a driver for Network Private Hire.

The SNP group on Glasgow City Council is to table a motion on Monday that could block the firm from winning any contracts from the local authority.

Network, based in the Springburn area of the city, is in the middle of a long-running war of words with Strathclyde Police.

Although the firm last year secured a £2 million taxi contract with NHS Greater Glasgow, the deal was nearly scuppered when the police force urged the health board to pull out of the contract.

Network was then denied an operator’s license by the council in April after police argued that a convicted criminal was profiting from the firm.

Police said former shareholder James Baxter was still receiving £5000 a week as a result of being bought out.

The company continues to trade pending an appeal. Network denies any links to organised crime.

The Sunday Herald can now reveal the links between Network and Todd, who is a well-placed Labour councillor in Glasgow’s corridors of power.

The Network taxi driver is a member of council committees on children and families, health and social care, personnel appeals and public processions.

More importantly, he was recently installed as chair of City Building, the arms-length firm set up by disgraced former council leader Steven Purcell. City Building has been at the centre of rows over alleged cronyism in contracts and spending that benefited the Labour Party.

Todd did not respond to this newspaper’s questions about his work for the taxi firm, but a Network spokesman said: “Councillor Jim Todd works as a taxi driver with one of the most honest firms in Greater Glasgow. We are perplexed as to why anyone would want to question this, unless they are pursuing a specific agenda.”

However, SNP MSP Bob Doris said: “Councillors need to set an example to constituents. I suspect working for Network Private Hire, given the serious concerns the police have, is not the best way to do this.

“This Labour council needs to get its act together quickly.”

In another development, SNP councillors will tomorrow attempt to stop a number of taxi firms from securing work with the council.

The SNP motion urges the council “not to award any transport contracts to companies without an operator’s license and to review any contracts already awarded to such companies”.

It was revealed recently that the council, in a cost-cutting bid, had switched its school run business to Network and other private-hire operators.

David Meikle, a Tory councillor in Glasgow, said: “We already needed a full debate on the decision by the Labour-run council to increase its work for Network Private Hire, but the revelation that the taxi firm employs a Labour councillor means it is vital we get answers on the links between the party and this company.”

A Network spokesman said: “Network Cars welcomes any initiative designed to target crime of any sort. We hope that this information-sharing protocol will target both independent firms and those hackneys involved in the illegal black market in licence plates which, as everyone knows, is a magnet for money-laundering.”

Source: BBC Online

There were chaotic scenes in St Albans as taxi drivers went on strike over what they view as over-zealous parking enforcement.

Frustrations were heightened on Thursday afternoon when fifteen tickets were issued to taxis parked on the rank in St Peter’s Street.

The drivers subsequently stopped work and began a ‘go-slow’ protest through the city centre. The drivers said why they took the action:

“There are a lot of taxis operating in St Albans and not enough parking spaces to accommodate all the drivers. “The Council wants the drivers to drive around until there’s a free space on the rank, but that’s just not feasible, we can’t work that way,” explained one of the drivers.

After a meeting between taxi driver representative Mohammed Khan and the Chief Executive of St Albans District Council, the parking tickets were rescinded.

Steve Deakin, Parking Contract Manager at St Albans City and District Council, said in statement: “It is difficult to manage the taxi rank in St Peter’s Street, St Albans, safely with the number of taxis that need to use it. Owing to a misunderstanding, the civil enforcement officers have issued tickets to taxis using the rank.

“We have agreed to work with the taxi drivers on how to make the taxi rank work better and to agree alternative places for them to wait within the city centre area. In the meantime, we are continuing with arrangements that were in place up until now.

“We have agreed not to enforce the tickets that were issued today and the taxi drivers have agreed that they will help the civil enforcement officers ensure that the taxi rank operates safely. We are very pleased that the taxi drivers are working as usual and look forward to our discussions in the future.”

Source: Telegraph

Geely, the Chinese car group, has pulled out of a £14m deal to acquire a controlling stake in Manganese Bronze, the maker of London’s black cabs.

In a statement Manganese Bronze said Geely had decided not to proceed with a placing of 20m shares that would have increased its holding in the taxi maker from 20pc to 51pc. Shares in Manganese Bronze fell 6.25 to 45p, valuing the business at £14m.

The investment would have given Manganese Bronze cash to expand and develop a new saloon taxi, although the group stressed its international growth plans would remain on track.

John Russell, chief executive, said the board “have no reason to believe that the working capital available to it or its group will be insufficient for at least 12 months.”

Geely and Manganese Bronze’s joint-venture in China, Shanghai LTI Automobile Components Company, will continue. Under plans announced in March alongside the placing, the venture’s plant in Shanghai will start to produce the bodies and chassis for the TX4 taxi, with Manganese Bronze’s plant in Coventry focusing on assembly. SLTI will also sell London taxis outside the UK.

Talks between Geely and Manganese Bronze have been taking place since March. Geely was not available to comment on its decision last night.

Geely is led by Li Shufu, the self-styled Henry Ford of China, and earlier this month completed a deal to buy Volvo, the Swedish car maker, from Ford for $1.8bn (£1.2bn)

Mr Russell said: “We look forward to our continuing cooperation with Geely. The decision not to proceed with the placing should not affect the future of our joint-venture or international expansion plans.”

In 2009, Manganese Bronze made a pre-tax loss of £7.3m as sales fell from £77.2m to £73.1m due to the economic downturn.

Source: North West Evening Mail

THE owner of a taxi firm is angry after being told he has to remove the word “cab” from his cars. Stephen Haines founded 1st Choice Cabs four weeks ago and bought three vehicles for his company.

But council officials have now told the 54-year-old that he will have to remove his company’s branding from his cars. This is because the private hire licence that he has purchased does not allow vehicles to be described as cabs.

He has been left confused by the ruling by Barrow Borough Council and said he could be up to £500 out of pocket. Mr Haines, of Ramsden Street, Barrow, said: “At the time of applying for this licence I asked for all wording to be checked.

“I looked up the meaning of cab, and there was no indication it was strictly used for hackney carriages. I therefore called my firm 1st Choice Cabs, which I had asked to be verified as being acceptable. They returned to me and stated this to be fine.”

But Mr Haines was then told that he would have to remove the company name from his vehicles. He said: “I have spent money I can ill afford on getting this project off the ground. “Surely the council are being over-petty. There are hundreds of firms in this country that run under the ending ‘cabs’.”

Mr Haines will now have to remove stickers, which he paid over £100 to have designed, from the cars. He has also had cards, signs and flyers designed with the same logo.

Barrow Borough Council said that although there is no problem with the name of the company, legislation means that Mr Haines is not allowed to display the full name on his cars.

A spokesman said: “Stephen Haines has a number of vehicles licensed by the borough council as Private Hire Vehicles. “As such he is precluded from putting the words ‘taxi’, ‘cab’ or ‘hire’ on any part of his vehicles by Section 64 Transport Act 1980.

“This is presumably so that customers who use taxis do not get private hire vehicles and hackney carriages, traditionally known as ‘cabs’, confused.”

Source: Express and Star

A car company was caught illegally carrying 10 teenagers to a party in a Hummer during a crackdown on luxury limos used for school proms in the Black Country, a court heard.

The move triggered a failed cover up by the firm’s director Bilal Aziz in a bid to save it from being fined.

The 29-year-old boss of Birmingham-based A2Z Limos 4 U Ltd produced false papers, but handwriting experts exposed the scam and he was given a suspended jail sentence after admitting attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Aziz was given 20 weeks behind bars, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work when he appeared before Wolverhampton Crown Court earlier this month.

Yesterday the firm was also ordered to pay £10,800 in fines and costs and his brother Iqbal, 30, who was driving the Hummer when it was stopped, was fined £250 with £315 costs at the city’s magistrates court for the original offences.

The limo was pulled over during a joint operation by police and staff from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa) as it took 10 16-year-olds from Cheslyn Hay High School to a prom at Wolverhampton’s Park Hall Hotel on July 10, 2009.

The white Hummer did not have the necessary public service vehicle certificate of fitness needed to carry passengers on the trip. Bilal Aziz later gave a Vosa traffic examiner a piece of paper that appeared to show the Hummer had been employed as a self-drive hire by one of the female passengers – making her and her family legally responsible for the job. But handwriting experts confirmed the signature of the 16-year-old girl had been copied from a booking confirmation.

A2Z Limos 4 U Ltd, based at the brothers’ home in Russell Road, Moseley, admitted allowing the use of a PSV operator’s licence with intent to deceive, using a public service vehicle without a certificate of fitness, not having a tachograph, failing to produce a tachograph record sheet, and using the vehicle with neither third party insurance nor a test certificate. It was fined a total of £10,200 with £600 costs.

Iqbal Aziz admitted driving without a tachograph, failing to produce a record sheet and allowing the use of a PSV operator’s licence with intent to deceive.

Source: BBC Online

A limousine carrying primary school pupils to a leaving celebration has been seized after police said they found a “shocking” catalogue of faults. It was stopped after transporting 16 youngsters in Llanelli.

Police said it had no MOT, defective brakes, wheel nuts were missing and the doors did not shut properly. Dyfed-Powys Police said while the owner had the right to appeal if this was unsuccessful the vehicle would be disposed of. The force said it used new public service vehicle legislation to seize the limousine.

Alleged defects

* No MOT
* Defective brakes
* Doors not properly closing
* No tachograph records
* No operator’s licence
* No speed limiter
* Missing wheel nuts
* No Certificate of Initial Fitness

Pc Adrian Hughes said the vehicle had taken the primary school to Trostre Retail Park as part of their leaving celebrations.

A member of the public noticed the doors were not shutting properly and notified the police and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa). Following investigation the limo was eventually seized.

Pc Hughes said: “This vehicle had quite a shocking range of defects. “Obviously the children who had travelled in the limo were put at risk, and their parents, who’d paid a substantial amount of money for the trip were shocked and disappointed.

“Hopefully this seizure will send a clear warning out to others operating public service vehicles that safety of the passengers is paramount and we in Dyfed-Powys Police will take the appropriate action against those who don’t follow the law.”

Andrew Rustage, Vosa senior vehicle examiner said the agency had worked hard with the limousine industry to ensure vehicles were safe. “The hard core few who insist on operating illegally and with little regard for passenger safety can expect to lose their vehicles indefinitely,” he added. “Vosa will use the new powers to help ensure passenger transport is safe.”

The owner now has the right to appeal the detention of his vehicle. If after this period has elapsed it is not returned by the traffic commissioner, police said it would be disposed of.