Coventry taxi driver three times over drink-drive limit A COVENTRY taxi driver was nearly three times over the drink-drive limit as he ferried passengers around the city in his black cab.
Rattaninder Ahluwalia, aged 42, of Buckfast Close, Styvechale, was arrested after a concerned passenger rang police to say the car was being driven erratically.
A breath-test revealed the cabbie had 100 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of his breath. The legal limit is 35.
At Coventry Magistrates Court, Ahluwalia was given an eight-week suspended prison sentence, and banned from driving for two years.
He was also ordered to complete 40 hours of unpaid work and attend 14 sessions of the Drink Impaired Drivers Programme.
He will not be able to work as a taxi driver for four years.
Speaking after the hearing, Imran Zaman, chairman of Coventry Taxi Association, said Ahluwalia was a disgrace to the profession.
“As a taxi driver you are not only looking after yourself, you are looking after the public, you are there to take the public around safely, he said.
“The last thing you want is a drunken taxi driver dropping you off home.
“I don’t have any sympathy for him because what he did was intentional. To be three times over the limit he must have had several drinks, he knew what he was doing.
“I hope he never gets his badge back, he’s obviously not responsible enough, not fit and proper to be a taxi driver.”
Ahluwalia, who is the director of a taxi firm called KJ Compliance, was arrested as he picked up a fare in Hales Street, city centre, at about 12.30am on Tuesday, February 7.
Police had been tipped off about his driving by another passenger.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “He was arrested after a passenger who had been in the cab earlier said the driver was drunk. The car was seen in Hales Street picking up another fare so officers have stopped the cab and the driver appeared intoxicated.”
Ahluwalia was unavailable for comment at his home yesterday.
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