Minicab driver handed £500 fine after picking up trade illegally in StoneA minicab driver will have to fork out more than £500 after plying for trade illegally in a Stone sting.
Ramzan Nawaz, of Lakeside Close, Etruria, was stopped after a joint operation between police and Stafford Borough Council to crackdown on rogue minicabs.
Magistrates heard Nawaz, 30, agreed to take a plain clothed policewoman and council officer to a local pub when they approached his Lucky Seven private hire vehicle in Station Road, Stone.
Private hire drivers can only pick up passengers that have booked in advance – and it is illegal for them to collect customers in the street or from a taxi rank. The ‘Safer Nights’ operation aims to reduce the risks to residents of uninsured and unsafe vehicles on the roads in the borough.
Nawaz admitted plying for hire in an unlicensed vehicle in August. He was given a £135 fine, ordered to pay costs of £353.60 and a £20 victim surcharge when he appeared before Newcastle Magistrates on Tuesday.
Cabinet Member for Environment and Health, Councillor Frank Finlay, said following the case: “We are determined to clamp down on private hire drivers who stick two fingers up at the law by coming into the borough and picking up residents with no prior booking.
“One of our top priorities is the health and wellbeing of our community and this operation aims to protect the public as they are at risk, because these vehicles will not be insured if they are picking up passengers in this way.”
Another Stoke minicab driver, caught as part of the same joint operation, was given a conditional discharge when he appeared before Stafford Magistrates for a similar offence in December.
More information on taxis and private hire vehicles can be found at
www.staffordbc.gov.uk/transport-and-str ... d-minicabsRead more:
http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.u ... z3QxDOYAqr
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