Some people may have read this on Taxi Point a few days ago.
Or they may have read the article above from a couple of years ago. Without looking at the precise details of the earlier case, this one seems a carbon copy
Middlesbrough private hire driver stripped of licence after CCTV catches him with suspected sex worker at 2amhttps://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/middl ... ker-at-2amA private hire driver licensed by Middlesbrough Council has had his licence revoked with immediate effect on public safety grounds after a licensing committee found he had been untruthful and evasive following CCTV evidence showing his vehicle in circumstances consistent with kerb crawling.Middlesbrough Council’s Licensing Committee voted to revoke the private hire vehicle driver’s licence at its meeting on 16 March 2026, with the revocation taking immediate effect under Section 61(2B) of the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 on the grounds of public safety.
The committee found, on balance, that the driver had engaged a vulnerable female for the purposes of sex work and subsequently attempted to deceive licensing officers and committee members about the nature of the encounter.
The case was triggered on 28 January 2026, when Stockton Council’s Licensing Team alerted Middlesbrough Council’s licensing officers after their Security and Surveillance Team identified CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of that morning.
The footage showed a Middlesbrough Council licensed private hire vehicle stopping at a kerbside location in Stockton at 1.52am. A lone female was seen approaching the vehicle, speaking to the driver through the open front passenger window before entering the car. The vehicle was then driven through several streets before pulling into a car park. The car park itself was obscured from the camera’s view, though the footage covered the only entrance and exit point. The vehicle was recorded leaving at 2.04am, having spent approximately 12 minutes in the car park out of sight of the camera.
Subsequent enquiries by Middlesbrough licensing officers confirmed the identity of the driver, who leases the vehicle in question. Booking records obtained from the driver’s primary private hire operator showed no valid booking covering the relevant time period. Cleveland Police, consulted during the investigation, informed licensing officers on 18 February 2026 that they believed the lone female seen in the footage was a sex worker, noting that whilst she was not personally known to officers, she had associates who were or had been involved in sex work and drug use.
The driver was interviewed by licensing officers on 18 February 2026 and confirmed he had been driving the vehicle that night and was its sole driver. When shown the CCTV footage, he stated he could not remember who the female was, initially suggesting she may have booked a job through a second private hire operator he also worked for. Checks with that operator confirmed there were no bookings logged between midnight and 3.00am on 28 January 2026.
When pressed on why he had taken the female to the car park, the driver stated that nothing had happened and that he could not explain it, before adding that he did not understand and needed an interpreter. At a further phone interview on 19 February 2026, conducted in the presence of the vehicle owner, the driver offered a more detailed account, stating that the female had entered the vehicle claiming she had no money, directed him to the car park, left to collect funds, and ultimately departed after an argument over payment without paying her fare. He suggested the operator would have retracted the job as a no-show on those grounds.
Officers subsequently visited the car park on 3 March 2026 to conduct a physical inspection of the location. When the driver was informed of that visit, he initially stated the female had left through an alleyway into one of the nearby terraced houses. Officers clarified that the sole entry point to the alleyway was visible on the CCTV throughout the incident, contradicting his account. The driver then revised his version of events, stating he had misunderstood and that he had seen the female walk in the direction of a building adjacent to the car park but did not see where she went.
The committee, having viewed the CCTV footage and considered the full body of evidence, found the driver’s account to be confused, disjointed, and fundamentally untruthful. Members noted that his explanation had shifted repeatedly across multiple interviews and changed again once officers had physically inspected the location and disproved specific details he had provided.
The committee concluded, on balance, that the driver had been engaging the female for the purposes of sex work and had subsequently attempted to distance himself from that behaviour by providing inconsistent and misleading accounts to officers and members alike. The committee determined that the driver had abused his position of trust and was not a fit and proper person to hold a taxi licence in Middlesbrough.
Citing the Middlesbrough Council Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Policy 2022, the committee noted that the policy specifically provides that a driver with any connection to an offence involving illegal sexual activity, including kerb crawling, would not be licensed, and further that behaviour which may not reach the threshold of a criminal offence can nonetheless result in revocation where a driver’s conduct falls below the standard of professionalism required of licence holders.
Given its finding that the female was likely a vulnerable individual and that the driver had taken advantage of that vulnerability, the committee determined that the public safety provision under Section 61(2B) of the Act applied and that the revocation should take effect immediately rather than following the standard notice period.
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