Taxi Driver Online

Unusual prosecution of HC drivers plying for hire out-of-area

Seven taxi drivers were yesterday each left with a £765 bill after being caught operating illegally by undercover council officers.

They were all trapped by an operation to catch unlicensed drivers launched by Oadby and Wigston Borough Council.

Adelle Eveligh-Winstone told Leicester magistrates how the drivers, who all have public hackney licences issued by Leicester City Council, picked up council officers posing as passengers in Manor Road, near the University of Leicester.

This is an area covered by licences issued by the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and city council-licensed drivers cannot ply their trade.

When confronted by the undercover officers, the taxi drivers admitting breaching their licences.

Drivers are not covered by their insurance if they pick up passengers in an area they are not licensed to work in.

Abid Hussain, defending all seven drivers, said they were all of previous good character.

He said: "It is all down to a lack of knowledge as to where the boundaries are between Oadby and Leicester."

District judge John Temperley fined the drivers £200 each and ordered each to pay £550 costs and a £15 victim surcharge each.

He told them: "Having been granted licences to work in Leicester, the onus is upon you to make sure you knew where the boundaries were."

Speaking after the case, Kalv Garcha, Oadby and Wigston borough council solicitor and acting head of corporate resources, said: "Our primary consideration is always public safety and it is a matter of concern that these drivers put the public at risk by carrying out uninsured journeys. The council takes an extremely serious view of such matters. We will continue to mount such operations and hope that the outcome of this hearing and the financial penalties incurred for the offences will serve as a deterrent."

Hafiz Afzal (38), of Cordery Road, Evington, and Kulwant Singh (43), of Borrowdale Way, Evington, pleaded guilty to driving a taxi in Oadby and Wigston on October 4 last year when the carriage was not licensed as a public hackney carriage in that area.

Mehar Pooni, 48, of Severn Road, Oadby, pleaded guilty to the same charge but on October 5 last year.

Mukhtar Ahmed (43), of Baden Road, Horston Hill, Leicester; Amrik Dhillon (57), of Old Charity Farm, Stoughton; and Mohammed Galaria (54), of Davett Close, Evington, pleaded guilty to driving a taxi, in Oadby and Wigston, on November 4 last year when the carriage was not licensed as public hackney carriage.

Amir Anwar (34), of Hinckley Road, Leicester Forest East, pleaded guilty to the same charge but on November 5 last year.

Source: Leicester Mercury

The drivers should have known better but isn't this something that needs to be sorted out our area is a similar situation where we have the boundaries of 4 counties adjacent to the town which are administered from towns 12 to 15 miles away it is a ridiculous situation that one side of a line it is legal to pick up and the other only taxis from 15 miles away can pick up which would never happen because hackneys from that far out rarely turn up our way

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

It may be an unusual prosecution but it's not an unusual occurrence

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!