Bradford blues  (4/8/2004)

A convicted killer driving a cab, a legal action threat to council over sex attack,  an ex-enforcement officer's 'cab office hell' and a sacked BNP councillor cabbie have cast a pall over the West Yorkshire city's cab trade.

A convicted killer who strangled his wife in a jealous rage is working as a private hire driver in Shipley after being granted a license by Bradford City Council.

Joseph Martin, 60, was sentenced to six years in jail in 1991 for the manslaughter of his wife and has been working as a driver for Central Private Hire for six months.

At his trial at Leeds Crown Court the jury heard how Mr Martin, then 47, killed his 26-year-old wife Sharon after a row about her socialising with friends until the early hours.  Martin exploded with rage when she suggested that she had looked at other men.

After the killing Martin bathed and dried his wife, and then put her to bed in silk pyjamas.  He stayed the night with her before giving himself up the next day.

Claiming that he had not intended to kill her, Martin was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of provocation.

The chairman of the council's Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Panel defended the decision to award Martin a license in the Bradford Telegraph and Argus.  Councillor Michael Walls said that Martin had paid his penalty and had carried on a blemish-free existence since his conviction.

Councillor Walls added that to suggest he was a threat to anyone was "to blow things out of proportion", but he also said that the council was looking at adopting stricter criteria in future.

He said that one idea would be to publish the names of license applicants so that they public could have a say on their suitability.

Bradford North MP Terry Rooney described the granting of the license to Martin as 'outrageous'.  He said that a person guilty of such a crime should never be allowed to hold a license for positions involving dealing with the public.

In a strongly-worded leading article the newspaper said:

"Regardless of how long ago the crime occurred or how unblemished his record might have been since, anyone - particularly women travelling alone - would be unlikely to feel any degree of confidence about their safety when climbing into a car with a man who held such a conviction."

"Clearly the rules and the criteria by which the licensing panel are working are deeply flawed.  They must remember that the public has a right to feel safe, secure and protected and as part of their duty to their citizens they should review their policy at once."

Legal action threat
The Telegraph and Argus has also revealed that a family is considering suing Bradford City Council for negligence following a sex attack on a schoolgirl by a hackney carriage driver.

Denied legal aid because the action would be categorised as a personal injuries claim, the girl's parents are looking at the possibility of launching an action on a 'no-win, no-fee' basis.

The 15-year-old was indecently assaulted by Naseem Abbas last year after he drove her to a quiet cul-de-sac.  24-year-old Abbas had been found not guilty of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman passenger before the attack on the schoolgirl, but was jailed for three years for the latest assault.

The schoolgirl's parents are unhappy that Bradford councillors granted Abbas a license despite knowing that he had a previous conviction for physical assault.

Meanwhile, Bradford police are hunting a hackney carriage driver who sexually assaulted a young woman passenger  in the early hours of Saturday June 19.  The 17-year-old had shared a taxi from Bradford city centre but was left alone with the driver after dropping off her friend.  When the taxi reached Clayton the driver locked the doors, climbed into the back of the cab and indecently assaulted the teenager.

Councillor Michael Walls has already promised to crackdown on rogue drivers after complaints from women about inappropriate sexual comments.

A 32-year-old private hire driver is currently on police bail after an allegation of sexual assault on a female in his car in a Great Horton car park in May.

Abid Hussain, chairman of the Bradford Hackney Carriage Association said that allegations of this type were extremely rare and that the Abbas case was the first first hackney carriage case of its kind that he was aware of since he started driving in 1983.

Bogus cabbies
Mr Hussain has also claimed that bogus cabbies may be operating near Bradford city centre and has called on the council to have more enforcement officers working on the streets at night.  He claimed that officers used to patrol until 3am but he had not seen any working those hours for several months.

Mr Hussain claimed that he had seen ordinary cars sitting just behind or in front of the ranks and he had 'grave concerns' that bogus taxis were operating.  He said: "Our concern is that if someone sees a person sitting there they could think he is a legitimate driver.  A woman was raped in Leeds when she got into a car she thought was a taxi.  We don't want that to happen here in Bradford."

Bradford City Council admitted that there were five vacancies for enforcement officers and said that they had experienced recruitment problems.  But the spokesman said that other officers had been carrying out enforcement duties to ensure that service was maintained.  He also added that they were not aware of any bogus drivers.

But the council will not provide financial support for drivers to put security cameras in their cars, despite welcoming individual drivers who do so.

The comment came after the Keighley Anti-Crime Partnership pledged £4.500 to buy cameras to be installed in ten cars serving the town and surrounding villages.

The pilot scheme is intended to protect drivers and their customers, and if successful other drivers will be encouraged to buy cameras at a subsidised cost.

'Cab office hell'
A former council officer has told the Telegraph and Argus that she was forced to give up her job after threats and sexual harassment from cab drivers applying for licenses. 

Jayne Morgan, 31, claimed that while working as a licensing officer for Bradford City Council people with convictions for rape, murder and having sex with children were granted licenses to drive.  She quit the job seven years ago on medical advice after a member of an angry group threw a wooden signboard at her after being refused a license.

She alleged that the files the department prepared on applicants with convictions were a waste of time because 'political games' were played by councillors on the licensing panel.  Miss Morgan claimed that votes on such applicants were often decided on the basis of councillors with a political axe to grind.

She said that licensing staff would get sworn at on a daily basis by drivers visiting the office, and questioned how such people would treat the public in view of their attitude to council staff surrounded by CCTV cameras, alarms and panic buttons.

Miss Morgan, who started with the council when aged around 17, said: "They would be mob-handed - four or five of them - and they would be talking absolute filth asking 'when am I going to bed you?' and throwing condoms around the office.  It was very daunting for girls of our age."

"They would threaten to rape you or run you over with their car.  I was afraid they weren't empty threats."

She also claimed that licenses were granted 'willy-nilly' by the licensing panel, and that 'councillors swallowed' pleas from applicants with convictions that they had served their time.  The were often awarded probationary licenses, which Miss Morgan claimed were not worth the paper they were printed on since they would turn up after three or six months with an even worse attitude.

She also said that the race card came into play, with councillors more concerned with equal rights rather than the rights of other people.

Miss Morgan quit after a driver turned up on a Friday afternoon wanting to work the weekend trade.  Since he had not brought his driving license or insurance details with him her colleague could not issue a license.

The driver later came back with a couple of friends, but on finding the office locked they prised a wooden sign off the wall and waited for staff to come out.  When Miss Morgan came out one of the men threw the sign which bounced off her car roof and hit her in the chest.

Councillor Michael Walls admitted that the claims might have been true but insisted that things were better now.  He admitted that historically the council had been poor on enforcement but sexual harrassment and threats to staff do not happen now due to managerial and staff changes.

Councillor Walls said that drivers still came to the office 'shouting and bawling' but claimed that the enforcement officers were 'more than capable' of dealing with it.  He added that things had been tightened up during his time as chairman and very much doubted that there are murderers or rapists with licenses now.

BNP coucillor cabbie sacked
Meanwhile, a Bradford councillor has lost his taxi driving job after being arrested in connection with a TV expose into British National Party activity in West Yorkshire.

Keighley Taxis told Chris Kirby, 35, that it had to dismiss him because of his right-wing political views since the firm had been warned that it might lose lucrative health and social services contracts.

But director of Keighley Taxis Stuart Hastings denied that the dismissal had been due to external pressure.  He told the Yorkshire Post that the decision had been based purely on the unacceptable nature of Councillor Kirby's BNP activities.  He said that he was unaware of Kirby's activities until he was elected in June, and that the town was multi-racial and that his firm just didn't want to get involved in politics or religion.

A dismissal letter sent by Mr Hastings to Councillor Kirby said that he had brought adverse publicity which had an negative impact on the business.  Since he was technically self-employed Kirby doubted if he would have any legal redress regarding the dismissal.

Bradford Council, Airedale NHS Trust and Bradford District Care Trust all have contracts with the firm, but all denied exerting any pressure, despite claims to the contrary by Councillor Kirby.  He said that he kept his political life separate from his taxi job.

Mr Kirby was shown on the BBC Secret Agent programme apparently planning an arson attack on a TUC van delivering ant-BNP leaflets, and was later arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage.  But he alleges that he was goaded into action by the BBC undercover reporter and a BNP whistle-blower, claims denied by the BBC.

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