Cab driver had history of sex attacks
An East Finchley mini-cab company which gave work to a driver with a conviction for sexual assault said this week it would never have given him a job had it known about his past.
Stuart Knight, 47, from Bracken Close, Borehamwood a cab driver for Greater London Hire (GLH) in High Road was jailed for 30 months three weeks ago for sexually assaulting a woman in Trent Park, Barnet, in September last year.
He worked at GLH from May 2003 to October 2004 but was suspended when the firm learnt that police had taken him into custody.
It was his second conviction for sexual assault: the first came in 1985 when he sexually assaulted a woman in her home.
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has tried to increase confidence in mini-cabs by introducing a criminal records check for all 40,000 minicab drivers in London.
But a Transport for London spokeswoman said that only about half of the drivers had been checked so far, and that Knight was one of the remaining 20,000 due to be checked by the end of the year.
Peter Ross, passenger car manager for GLH, said: "Obviously, had we known about the previous conviction, we would never have given him a job in the first place. We would have said,Thanks, but no thanks'.
"We like to think we run a very tight ship. He was driving with a temporary permit, so there is no way we would have known about his previous conviction, but with the new legislation that's come in, he would have been found out at some point."
The Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 requires all mini-cab drivers, their cars and the cab companies to be licensed.
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