Taxi Driver Online

JAIL WARNING AS GROPING CABBIE IS FOUND GUILTY

A Taxi DRIVER who groped a female passenger and offered her £40 to have sex with him has been found guilty of indecent assault.

School taxi driver John Armstrong (62) was convicted by a jury of indecently assaulting the woman and attempting to indecently assault another passenger. The businessman, who runs M and J Taxis in Sleaford, was cleared at Lincoln Crown Court of two similar offences involving two other girls.

Judge Jeremy Lea adjourned sentence on Armstrong for a report but remanded him into custody at the end of a five-day trial. He warned Armstrong: "The outcome in terms of sentence is inevitable in this case. "I am going to have to sentence you for quite a serious indecent assault on a young woman who was entitled to feel safe in your taxi."

The 17-year-old victim had told the jury how Armstrong put his hand down her top after stopping his cab in a quiet Lincolnshire village. She said he gave her a "French kiss" before moving his hand towards her breasts and between her legs. Armstrong then offered the teenager cash to have sex with him when she was dropped off last after a night out with friends.

Giving evidence, the woman claimed Armstrong began taking a strange route before eventually ending up in the village of Quarrington. She told the court: "It was dark, with not many people around. I said I didn't live there. He knew that and said he wanted to talk to me. "I told him I felt sick. I remember winding the window down. I told him I wanted to go home.

"He kissed me on the lips - a French kiss. "I said I felt sick because I didn't want him to come near me. "After about two minutes he put his right hand down my top. I felt disgusted. "He wanted to have sex with me. He said he would pay me £40 and at least I would have some money to go out on Saturday night."

The court heard Armstrong tried to kiss her again before offering his mobile phone number when he dropped her off near her mother's home. A second victim told the jury that Armstrong tried to kiss her after he stopped his car in a quiet area while driving her back from Caythorpe College.

The first incident allegedly happened in the early 1990s when he gave a 19-year-old a lift home from Caythorpe College, near Grantham. Giving evidence, the girl said she was left feeling uncomfortable by Armstrong's sexual innuendoes and turned down his offer to go for a drink. "The car stopped. I was pretty scared. I think he leaned across to touch me or kiss me. I went blank. I can't remember getting home."

Armstrong, of Robertson Drive, Sleaford, denied all four offences, which involved four teenagers aged between 14 and 19, over a 10-year period between January 1, 1993, and February 27 last year. He told a jury he treated customers with "courtesy and respect". The court also heard that he had won more than £180,000 on national bingo in August 2003.

But giving evidence, Armstrong said most of the money was now gone. "I've looked after my sons and house, various things," he said.

After the case, Lincolnshire County Council confirmed Armstrong had been contracted to take children to schools in Lincolnshire. A spokesman said he had undergone the authority's usual vetting procedure, which involves checking if he had any previous criminal convictions. The council said it had no plans to change its vetting procedure for taxi drivers.

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IDFIMH

which is why i always sit in the back of the car of any driver i dont know

A seperate Cab and passenger compartment is the Answer, sort of like a real Taxi already has.

Cameras might be the answer to this problem as well.

And another ones at it.

TAXI DRIVER'S SEX ASSAULT ON PASSENGER

Cleethorpes taxi driver Paul Emerson could be jailed after being convicted of sexually assaulting a female passenger. He told her she had "nice legs" before intimately touching her, Grimsby Crown Court heard. Emerson (28), of Hinkler Street, denied sexually assaulting the woman on September 24, but was convicted by a jury after a trial.

Simon Hirst, prosecuting, said the woman went to her boyfriend's home after a night out in Grimsby pubs and stayed there until 4am, when she telephoned Links Taxis for a cab to work. Emerson arrived and she got in the taxi. Early on in the journey, Emerson told her she had "nice legs" and, later on, made an indecent suggestion to her. He told her: "It will save you the cost of the taxi fare."

She refused but, a short time later, Emerson stopped the taxi, indecently exposed himself and started committing a sex act. "While doing that, he was touching her leg and rubbing his hands up and down," said Mr Hirst. "She screamed and it seemed to stop what was going on."

The court heard that Emerson later told police he remembered the taxi journey but was not sure whether he told the woman she had nice legs. He claimed "nothing at all" actually happened and denied making any sexual suggestion. Judge Jane Shipley adjourned sentence for reports but warned Emerson that all options, including prison, were open. Emerson was released on bail until the next hearing at Sheffield Crown Court.

After the case, Links Taxis bosses declined to comment. A North East Lincolnshire Council spokesman said the case would almost certainly be referred to the hackney carriage sub-committee. Drivers had to declare convictions within seven days and when licences came up for renewal. Police checks were made every three years.

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IDFIMH

Sounds like 'Minicab' drivers to me. As there was no mention of licenses or licensed.

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Make trafic wardens redundant. PARK LEGALLY.
Congestion charge! Before it was free.

I suspect it does, but as there are no such thing as minicabs anymore, that takes us nowhere.

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IDFIMH

i think the tx/e7 screens are the only way forward to stop this.
maybe also cctv.
but all this news is doing the cab trade no good at all.

Since both sides of the provincial trade have been licensed for years, licenses would probably only be mentioned if they didn't have one, thus presumably they were both licensed.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Indeed the final paragraph in each article effectively says that they have drivers' badges.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk