Cabbie banned for using mobile

Friday, June 08, 2012

A cabbie has been banned from driving for six months after being found guilty of using a mobile phone while driving.

Jagjit Singh (42), of Gainsborough Road, Knighton, Leicester, pleaded not guilty to the offence, in Vaughan Way, Leicester, on November 1.

However, he was convicted at Leicester Magistrates' Court and fined £75, with £75 costs and a £15 victims of crime surcharge.

Because three penalty points imposed on his licence took the total to 15, magistrates had to disqualify him from driving all vehicles for six months.

He had previously claimed – in October 2010 – that being disqualified from driving would cause him exceptional hardship due to loss of employment, so this option was not available to him a second time.

Prosecutor Ian Johnson said police saw Singh holding a mobile phone to his right ear at 3.05am.

Mr Johnson said: "He told the officer who cautioned him that he was phoning a customer but was not driving. He said he had been parked."

Pc Lee Eckersley told the court that street lighting made vision clear and there was nothing between his car and the taxi driven by Singh.

"He was using a hand-held mobile phone as the taxi was driven towards me in Burleys Way," he said.

"Throughout the journey he had his hand to his ear."

Singh, a taxi driver for six years, said he worked from a base in Braunstone Gate and regularly picked up fares from around Church Gate. At the time of the offence, he had been asked to pick up a fare from outside Liquid Envy nightclub.

Singh maintained that he made a phone call to check whether the woman he was due to collect was still there.

He said he saw the police car coming towards Church Gate from Vaughan Way, and was waiting for the traffic lights to change.

He said: "I was stationary. The police vehicle passed me. I had no reason at all to use my mobile phone when I was driving."

After sentencing, his solicitor, David Rhodes, said the six-month ban would have a devastating effect on Singh and his family.

He said: "He has a mortgage which needs paying. His wife's job is manual, in a bakery. They are going to find life very difficult from now on."

Source; http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/C ... story.html

It does not always follow that 12 points on a license means someone is a bad driver it may just be that they are bad at avoiding getting caught or just unlucky

That said many of the asian drivers round here regularly spend a lot of time on phone calls often whilst driving although most have hands free

This is laughable tbh, 12 points and some are defending him, his profile says serial abuser of any rules, good riddance he's been removed from the road.

And of course you never speed or push through a junction on an amber light ?

He had previously claimed – in October 2010 – that being disqualified from driving would cause him exceptional hardship due to loss of employment, so this option was not available to him a second time.

In other words he took the right royal pi** out of the bench that gave him the benefit of the doubt last time.

Seen the rozzers try fit up plenty of drivers on this in london and they got their arse kicked over it mind all the other points take some explaining ?

It does not always follow that 12 points on a license means someone is a bad driver it may just be that they are bad at avoiding getting caught or just unlucky

That said many of the asian drivers round here regularly spend a lot of time on phone calls often whilst driving although most have hands free