Old news but quite interesting
07 April 2008: Appeal falls on deaf ears
A Bury Hackney carriage driver had a fruitless trip to Bury after failing to get his licence back at Magistrates Court on Wednesday April 2.
Shanawaz Raja lost his licence for overcharging his customers. He was forced to withdraw his appeal and landed himself with a £500 bill for costs into the bargain.
Mr Raja parted company with his solicitor part way through his appeal case and appeared without the aid of an interpreter despite court direction that he provide an interpreter at his own expense if one was needed.
Mr Raja was accompanied by the chairman of the Hackney carriage association Mr Charles Oakes who tried to persuade the Court's legal adviser that he should be allowed to represent Mr Raja despite being unqualified. Mr Oakes' attempt to act for Mr Raja fell at the first hurdle as he was asked by Helen Fox, the court's legal adviser if he was a solicitor and when it was discovered he was not, he was told in summary language that he could not do as he asked. He then proceeded to run out of court without accepting the documented evidence offered to him by the council's solicitor.
Outside the court Mr Oakes abused the council's solicitor and was given a warning by the Court Usher that if he was abusive or obstructive he would be held in contempt of court.
When the case was heard the defendant proceeded to tell the court that he could not afford to pay and costs and that he could not understand English, despite his earlier admission that he worked on the telephones for a private hire firm and he had been employed as a taxi driver.
Mr Raja had appealed against his conviction for overcharging and his suspension from holding a hackney driver's licence on no fewer than three previous occasions. Bury Council incurred £4,522.40 of costs in dealing with those.
The court ordered that Mr Raja pay £500.00 in costs to Bury Council which he was ordered to pay at £10.00 per week.
