Taxi Driver Online

Taxi drivers jailed for swapping penalty points to avoid bans

TWO cabbies have been jailed after they set up a scam to swap penalty points to avoid driving bans. When they received a notice of intended prosecution for speeding or running a red light they would say the car had been sold or provide the wrong name for the driver.

One of the drivers would take points from others to prevent them losing their licence. Nasser Hussain, 54, of Prince Avenue, Southend, and Nisar Abbas, both admitted five counts of perverting the course of justice and were jailed for a year at Southend Crown Court.

Judge Ian Graham said as “professional taxi drivers” they had a responsibility to the public. As he passed sentence on Hussain, he said: “You continued to carry the public when you should have been off the road altogether.”

Abbas, 30, of Prince Avenue, Westcliff, had taken points from others to help them out. Two other cab drivers were involved but were not jailed. Akeel Abbas, 28, of Hildaville Drive, Westcliff, was given a six-month sentence for his part in the scheme, but it was suspended for 12 months as the judge said he did not display the same pattern of offending. He was also ordered to carry out 120 hours unpaid work.

Mohammed Hussain, 26, of Prince Avenue, Westcliff, was only charged with one offence so was given a three-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, and 80 hours unpaid work.

Dave Clift, who is secretary of Southend Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, said: “People have got to have trust and respect for taxi drivers. You can’t ask them to do that when you’ve got people like that in the trade. We want to get rid of them as much as the public do.”

Mr Clift, who works for AC cabs, said the men had been receiving jobs through that company. but were all self-employed.

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