Criminal cabbies  (4/8/2004)

Courts in Newcastle have overturned a decision not to grant a private hire driver's license to a  "hardened and calculating career criminal".

30-year old career criminal Paul Nichol has kept his private hire license after Newcastle City Council appealed a decision by magistrates to grant him a license after its regulatory committee had considered him 'not fit and proper' due to the 'nature and extent' of his convictions.

But Newcastle Crown Court agreed with magistrates that Nichol had rehabilitated himself, despite Chief Inspector Dave Jackson describing him in court as a "hardened and calculating career criminal".

Nichol, Rye Hill, Newcastle, has more than 50 convictions for offences including drug dealing, robbery, dangerous driving and taking vehicles without the owner's consent.  With his criminal career commencing from the age of 13, he has served jail terms for dangerous driving and drug dealing after a £25,000 stash was found at his home.

Since magistrates overturned the council's decision in March he has been working for TJ Taxis in Byker.

The council argued that magistrates had not considered all of Nichol's convictions, dating back to 1987, but the crown court accepted that Nichol had rehabilitated himself by taking part in drug action and offending behaviour courses while in prison, where he served two years of a five year sentence for possession with intent to supply cocaine and amphetamine.

Nichol has a clean record since his release from prison in September 2000, except for one speeding offence.

The council and police had raised concerns that the type of work that Nichol would be involved in could tempt him back to a life of crime.

Inspector Jackson told the court that drivers can be vulnerable to being used by criminals to transport stolen groups, and he said that Nichol didn't have the "character, personality or background to be involved in such a position involving the trust of the public".

For the council, Asa Anderson said that Nichol was neither a responsible person nor a safe driver, lacked self-restraint and responsibility and also said that driving a cab would be "the ideal opportunity and temptation to return to return to crime and ferry drugs around the city".  He added that allowing Nichol to retain his license would "drive a coach and horses through legislation to protect the public".

But Nichol's representative said the he had been a model employee and had encountered no difficulties as regards public complaints or accidents and had had no problems with drugs.  He added that Nichol had never had a proper job until his release from prison and had not committed any offences since his release from prison four years ago.

Anthony McAllister, proprietor of TJ Taxis, who employed Nichol as a desk clerk two years ago, described him as "a very nice lad" who worked hard and was "honest and reliable".

Recorder Issacs, refusing the council's appeal, said that it was 'remarkable' and 'unusual' that someone with Nichol's record had not committed any offences since his release from jail.

In a strongly-worded comment the Newcastle Evening Chronicle described the case as "truly astonishing" and said:

"Everyone deserves a second chance but is it right that this young man should be allowed to take a position of such trust given his appalling record and in particular the nature of his offences?

"We only hope for the public's sake Mr Nichol is true to his word when he says he has no intention of committing any further crimes."

When magistrates overturned the council's decision earlier this year, the newspaper said:

"The council is responsible for the people who ferry the public about in taxis and they should be able decides who gets the licenses, not the courts.

Catalogue of crime
Nichol's criminal career began at the age of 13, and his record comprises (total number of each offence in brackets):

- Dangerous driving (1)

- Reckless driving (1)

- Driving while disqualified (7)

- No insurance (8)

- Driving without a licence (1)

- Handling stolen goods (11)

- Burglaries (5)

- Thefts from a vehicle (3)

- Robbery (1)

- Obtaining by deception (3)

- Going equipped for theft (1)

- Taking a vehicle without consent (4)

- Allowing himself to be carried in a vehicle taken without consent (3)

- Criminal damage (1)

- Failing to surrender to bail (1)

- Breach of conditional discharge (1)

- Obstruction of police (1)

- Trespassing with an airgun (1)

- Possession of Class A and B drugs with intent to supply (2)

Controversy
Councillors in Newcastle are no strangers to controversy relating to the granting of licenses, following a clutch of high-profile cases in the city this year.

In May the Evening Chronicle revealed that former nightclub bouncer Terry Scott was driving a hackney carriage in the city despite having been earlier stripped of his doorman's license following an attack on a punter.

Scott was granted the taxi license in 2002 having had his doorman's license revoked in 1997 following a conviction for grievous bodily harm on an RAF radar technician who he believed had jumped the queue at a Newcastle nightclub.  Craig Sheperdson had to have a metal plate inserted to rebuild his face after the attack.  Scott admitted the charge at a retrial and was given a suspended jail sentence.

Scott was a friend of hardman Viv Graham and was at his side when Graham was murdered in an unsolved drive-by shooting in Wallsend in 1993.  In 1995 Scott himself survived a gangland assassination attempt by a masked gunman.

Meanwhile, former cab driver Alan Maughan, who has no criminal convictions, claimed that the Nichol and Scott cases showed that he was being discriminated against.

Maughan had his license renewal turned down because of alleged links to Tyneside hardman John Henry Sayers, which police claimed meant that there was a risk Maughan would use his position for criminal activities.

Sayers also applied for hackney carriage, private hire and operator's licenses after Maughan had his license revoked.  In 1990 the ex-para was jailed for 15 years after masterminding a £350,000 payroll robbery on a Gateshead security firm.  A year later he was sentenced to 12 months in jail for conspiracy to handle stolen goods, but in 2002 he was cleared of plotting to assassinate murdered drug dealer Freddie Knights.  During the trial at Leeds Crown Court the prosecution claimed that Sayers was running an international criminal gang known as The Firm, but the jury accepted defence claims that he had been set up.

Sayers applied for the licenses soon after his release for jail in 2002, with his legal team claiming that he wanted to "lead an honest and industrious life and therefore wishes to run a taxi business if the council permits".

But in May councillors in Newcastle turned down his applications, which also included a door supervisor's registration.

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