Taxi Driver Online

OldhamCouncil suspends three licenced drivers.

Oldham Councillors have suspended the licenses of three drivers - one hackney carriage driver and two private hire drivers.

The suspensions, each for 28 days, follow their conviction for public order offences after an incident on Yorkshire Street, Oldham in March 2006.

Councillors issued the suspension as a punishment.

The suspended drivers are:

Asif Hussain 36 of Savoy Street, Oldham (Hackney Carriage Driver)
Waheed Khan 28 of Kersley Street, Oldham Mohammed Ijaz Saleem 29 of Osbourne Road, Oldham

Each suspended driver has the right to appeal against their suspension to local magistrates within 21 days.
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I can understand why drivers in areas like Oldham would disagree with my stance that councils remain best placed to decide local issues ........... when they encounter decisions like these.

A person is either fit and proper or they are not ............. suspending someones licence achieves nothing but financial hardship on these drivers families ................ after the suspension they are as fit and proper as they were before.

Obviously we don't know the facts surrounding this case and so cannot offer any opinion on it ....................... but the decision of the council should have been fit and proper or not, if you are fit and proper they you should retain their licence and if they are not then they should lose their licence.

A council should not have the power to apply a financial penalty by the way of a suspension, there is no reason for it other than if a licensee has been charged with an offence and they are considered a potential danger to the public whilst they await trial.

B. Lucky

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Skull on TDO

TF pi$$ed on his chips.

Today I spoke to the Chairman of Oldham licensing committee a Mr Brownridge. I must admit he appeared more than slightly inebriated but I could be wrong? However I asked him for the reasons why his committee suspended these 3 drivers and he told me it was because of a fracas in Oldham. I asked him was the 28-day suspension to protect the public or was it a punishment? He then started rambling on about the fact he is not only a councillor but also a lawyer. I told him I wasn't impressed and that he had a duty to inform the public why his committee took the actions they did and what were their objectives for making such a decision? So I asked him again did his committee suspend these drivers for 28 days to protect the public or did they suspend these drivers as a punishment?

His reply was "BOTH".

And I'm afraid that is exactly how I understood it to be when I first came across the suspension and I suppose so did everyone else on here who has an open mind about councillors?

Regards

JD