Taxi Driver Online

Rogue Liverpool taxi firm guilty of running cabs masquerading as buses


Acorn Cars of Kirkby covered his activities by claiming they were running a “flexibus service

A rogue taxi operator was found guilty of using private hire vehicles without a proper licence.

William Sweeney, who traded as Acorn Cars of Kirkby, covered his activities by claiming he was running a “flexibus service,” in which the car was being operated in the same way as a local bus.

But his claims were rejected when he appeared at Liverpool magistrates court, who found that to all intents and purposes the vehicles were being run as taxis, and that Sweeney’s actions had put legal operators at a disadvantage.

The court heard that Knowsley Council decided to act after receiving a number of complaints that Acorn Cars was operating a number of vehicles which were licensed by Liverpool City Council but not by Knowsley.

Officers from Knowsley carried out three “test purchases” by booking a vehicle to drive them to a specific location - on each occasion, the car used was not licensed by the council as a private hire vehicle.

Ruth Stockley, who represented Knowsley Council at the hearing, said that although Sweeney focused his business on Liverpool, he wanted to continue using his private hire vehicles in Knowsley even though they were not licensed by the relevant authority.

She added: “The prosecution witnesses carried on the journeys requested booked a taxi and not a bus service.

“At no time during the booking itself or during the journey were they offered, or informed that they were using, a flexibus service.

“None of those witnesses saw signage indicating that the vehicles were being used as a bus.”

Giles Bridge, representing Sweeney, told the court that while the defendant accepted there had been a number of breaches of the regulations and that the flexibus service had not been perfectly run, he had not intended to get around the licensing laws.

District Judge Wendy Lloyd told Sweeney that he had used “the guise of a flexible bus service to run a taxi service.”Sweeney, of Gardeners View, Kirkby, was fined £500 for each of the three offences of running a private hire vehicle without a licence.

He was also ordered to pay Knowsley Council’s costs, totalling £8,120.

source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liv ... ty-7095804

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

If he was running them as buses he would have needed a PCV operators license and vehicle discs and the operator details on the vehicle as well as other signage.

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Grandad,

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IDFIMH