Taxi Driver Online

Source: MK News

Police are appealing for witnesses after a taxi driver was robbed in Milton Keynes in the early hours of Thursday morning (2/7).

A taxi was hired to pick up a fare around 1.05am from The London Pride, Lakes Estate, Bletchley.

As the driver arrived, two men approached the taxi from a nearby alleyway.

One man got into the rear of the taxi, threatened the driver with a knife and demanding money from him.

The other offender opened the driver’s door and stabbed him twice with an unknown object.

The driver sounded his horn and both men ran off empty-handed towards Fern Grove, Lakes Estate.

The driver sustained minor injuries to his leg and received medical treatment at Milton Keynes General Hospital, from where he has since been discharged.

The offenders are white men; the offender who got into the rear of the taxi aged between 25 and 30, between 5ft 11ins and 6ft, slim, light brown hair, clean shaven and has a yellow complexion.

He was wearing a light blue jumper and light grey tracksuit bottoms.

The second offender has black hair, stocky and was shorter than the first offender.

He was wearing dark-coloured clothing.

Det Con Jo Pape, investigating, said: “I am appealing to anyone who was in the area around the time of the offence who may have witnessed the incident or saw two men hanging around and acting suspiciously prior to the taxi’s arrival to contact me.”

Anyone with information regarding the incident is urged to contact Det Con Pape at Milton Keynes police station via the 24-hour Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505.

If you do not want to speak to the police, call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Source: This is Gloucestershire

A Gloucestershire taxi driver says a blunder by Cheltenham Borough Council has put his livelihood at risk.

Dial-a-Car driver Andrew Green, from Lynworth, was driving through Cheltenham last week when he saw another cabbie with the licence plate number 307 – the same one as him.

Licence plates, issued by the council, are designed as individual identification numbers for taxi drivers within the borough.

And the 24-year-old, who applied for a private hire licence four months ago, said the duplication could have catastrophic consequences for his career.

Mr Green said: “That number is what customers identify me by. It should be unique to me.

“If someone else is driving around with the same one it puts my livelihood at risk because if something happened – a hit-and-run for instance – and all witnesses saw was the plate number, then I would not have a leg to stand on.

“It’s probably a basic administrative error but even so, it’s not acceptable.

“I’ve paid hundreds of pounds to get started, including licensing and other administrative fees, and yet the council can’t even seem to get three digits right.

“If I hadn’t seen the other car, he’d still be driving around now. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other instances where plates are being duplicated.”

Other taxi drivers have criticised the council’s licence enforcement officers for not doing their jobs properly.

Gary Knight, 43, a cabbie from Springbank, said: “The enforcement officers are not monitoring the situation closely enough.

“When a driver’s plate expires they should recall it straight away. Otherwise it leaves the door open for duplication, and for people to carry on driving illegally.

“There have been cases where people have carried on driving for months after their plates have expired.

“It’s up to the licensing authority to enforce it more strictly. If they don’t it’s the customer who will suffer.”

Trevor Gladding, community safety and licensing manager at Cheltenham Borough Council, said: “This was a regrettable error which happened recently and as soon as it was identified we took immediate action.

“Mr Green has kept his licence plate number and the other driver has received a new one.”

Source: Kidderminster Shuttle

A popular offbeat vehicle that dropped customers between two Bewdley pubs has been taken off the road on the orders of Wyre Forest District Council.

Customers were able to take the tuk tuk – a Southeast Asian motor vehicle – from the Cock and Magpie, in Severnside North, to the Hop Pole Inn, for their dinner reservations.

Paul Glover-Winfield, who owns both pubs with his daughter, Emma Passey, 25, set up the free service three weeks ago because of the lack of parking spaces at the Hop Pole.

Customers were parking on the footpath and outside neighbouring homes in Hop Pole Lane, as there was nowhere else for them to park, Mr Glover-Winfield said.

The district council, however, told him he could no longer provide the service without a licence because it was classed as private hire.

Last week, The Shuttle reported the council had also forced Sean McGahern, landlord of the Royal Forester in Callow Hill, to scrap the free lift service he was offering customers.

Mr Glover-Winfield, 40, said: “The council say I’m getting a reward out of it because people are coming up to my pub and buying a meal.

“They also said it doesn’t meet criteria because it’s not a red vehicle. My argument is I’m not doing it for private hire but that isn’t strong enough because I’m getting a commercial benefit from it. It’s extremely frustrating.”

He explained that people who booked a table at the Hop Pole would meet him at the Cock and Magpie 30 minutes before their reservations for a lift in the tuk tuk.

“I wanted to do it for a bit of fun,” said Mr Glover-Winfield, “It’s frustrating really because it’s a great little thing.

“It’s extremely economical and it keeps people off the road drinking and driving.

“There’s been a hell of a downturn in business in the Hop Pole since it’s gone. Considering the state of the pub industry you would expect the council to be more supportive.”

Mr Glover-Winfield said he brought the tuk tuk on eBay and thought it would be “perfect” to drop people at the pubs.

“ It’s MoT-ed and it’s got a British logbook,” he explained. “People have said it was the best thing to have come into Bewdley. It’s a little vibrant thing that made people smile.

“Just because of bureaucracy, no-one is able to think outside the box. It’s just a shame really.”

Brian Kent, principal licensing officer, said: “The use of vehicles for commercial benefit requires a licence as a private hire vehicle under the council’s taxi policy. If anyone would like help or advice on licensing we are happy to help.”

Mr Glover-Winfield said he would be applying for a licence for the tuk tuk, but he did not expect to succeed.

Source: Peterborough Evening Telegraph

A private hire cab driver has been fined for illegally picking up passengers in the street, but allowed to keep his licence.

Cabbie Yasin Mohammadi (34), of Crown Street, Peterborough, was snared in an undercover operation launched by Peterborough City Council and the police.

Under the terms of their licences and insurance, private hire drivers are only allowed to pick up pre-booked passenger.

But Mohammadi offered a lift to two plain-clothes officers in Bourges Boulevard, Peterborough Magistrates’ Court heard.

He was ordered to pay £120 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to unlawfully plying for hire, having no insurance and failing to wear his private hire badge.

City council licensing enforcement officer Ken Gray said: “If a private hire car picks up a passenger without a pre-booking, it invalidates the vehicle’s insurance.

“If a member of the public gets into a private hire vehicle without a prior booking, no one has any record of where they’re going or which vehicle or driver picked them up, and this obviously raises important personal safety issues.

“Taxi enforcement officers closely monitor the trade to protect the interests and safety of passengers, and will not hesitate to prosecute any private hire driver found unlawfully plying for hire.”

Source: Bromley Times

A cabbie who confronted passengers after he was handed a fake £20 was beaten and hit over the head with a bottle, a court heard.

John Mahoney, 28, of Meadow View, Orpington, was jailed for 10 months last Friday after he admitted causing actual bodily harm to taxi driver Turan Ozcelik.

His fellow passenger Michelle Young, 25, of Thursley Crescent, New Addington, who handed him the wine bottle during the incident on New Year’s Day also pleaded guilty to the charge and was given a community order which includes an alcohol treatment programme.

A third passenger, Greg Coleman, 30, of Oakbrook Close, Bromley, did not appear in court to face the charge and a warrant for his arrest has been issued.

Prosecuting, Miss Shahnez Ahmed said taxi driver Mr Ozcelik picked up the three passengers and took them to Burnt Ash Heights in Pike Close.

Mahoney paid the fare with £20 and Mr Ozcelik gave him £10 change.

Miss Ahmed said: “The three walked towards the entrance of the block of flats and the driver realised the note he had been given was a fake.

“He confronted Mahoney, who took the note back and started to argue. Mr Ozcelik asked him to give back the £10 change and he offered to forget the fare altogether.

“Mahoney became abusive and Coleman joined in.”

Mr Ozcelik was punched and kicked and Young handed a wine bottle to Mahoney who hit him over the head with it.

Blood was pouring from his head and a woman passer-by came to his aid.

Mr Ozcelik recalled later: “I couldn’t breathe as I have asthma. I was taken to Lewisham Hospital and my head was X-rayed.”

Susan Rodham, defending, said Mahoney had not really believed the £20 note was a dud.

He had been drinking heavily the night before and had acted in a way he would not ordinarily have done.

But the court was reminded that Mahoney had 40 previous offences on his record, two of them for assaults on police.

For Young, Christopher Gillespie said she had an alcohol problem and she had little recollection of what happened on that day, but she accepted that unpleasant injuries had been caused by the bottle she had handed over to Mahoney.

Source: The Press (York)

A FRESH storm is brewing over whether taxi drivers in York can advertise across their vehicles to compensate for a drop in business. City of York Council licensing chiefs look set to rule that adverts should only be emblazoned on certain parts of the city’s hackney carriage fleet to ensure York’s coat of arms is given enough prominence.

But drivers have reacted angrily to the suggestion and plan to vent their opposition at a meeting of the authority’s licensing and regulatory committee tomorrow, claiming such a move goes against Government legislation.

They also said they believed they would be given free rein to place adverts wherever they liked, as long as they kept the front doors of their cars where the city’s crest is displayed free of other material.

That came after driver Tom Browne took the council to court and won his battle to prevent all taxis being painted black, which opened the door for extra advertising income to be sought. Officers have drawn up a list of options on the issue which will be discussed tomorrow, with the recommended choice being to rule that the sides of hackney carriages should be kept clear of advertising, although it would still be allowed on the front and rear of taxis.

In a report which will go before the committee, the council’s head of licensing and safety Dick Haswell said: “Advertising provides an additional source of income for some taxi vehicle proprietors.

“It is clear that any advertising on the same door panel as the decal [the coat of arms] would more than likely render it unreadable. The decal also affects the quality of the advertising.” He said the preferred option “will allow full prominence to be given to the decal while still permitting advertising on the front and rear of the vehicle”.

But York Taxi Association has unanimously voted for advertising to be allowed anywhere other than the front door where the crest is displayed, and secretary Graham Phillips said they have been told they should be allowed to do this under the Miscellaneous Provisions Act.

“Our advice from the National Taxi Association is that there are no legal grounds for preventing us advertising wherever we want,” he said. “We want to promote the city’s crest, which is why we have said we would not advertise on our front doors, but we have to look at ways of attracting extra income because of the current economic situation.”

The newly-formed Independent Taxi Association, which represents 50 of York’s 173 hackney carriage drivers, has also backed allowing adverts on the sides of vehicles.