Taxi Driver Online

Private hire driver fined after trying to pick up customers off the street illegally in Coventry city centre






Peter Kumar Sidhu was fined after undercover officers caught him picking up customers who flagged him down

A taxi driver has been prosecuted for illegally vying for trade in Coventry and driving with no insurance.

Peter Kumar Sidhu, 47, of Doebank Lane, Coundon, was brought before Leamington Magistrates’ Court on Friday, August 14.

The private hire driver was prosecuted after a joint operation between West Midlands Police and the council’s Taxi Licensing Office.

During a night-time operation on Friday, January 23, undercover police officers stood on the corner of Croft Road, near the Skydome, and approached Sidhu’s car when it pulled up displaying the signs of Edwards Taxis. The 47-year-old agreed to take them to Beake Avenue, Whitmore Park, for £7.

It is illegal for private hire drivers to accept passengers who have not pre-booked, because the driver is not insured.

The Mercedes Vito was intercepted by uniformed officers en-route to its destination and directed to an area where licensing officers were waiting.

The taxi driver admitted picking up the police officers.

He said he was doing it as a favour because of the bad weather and because he was heading back to that area.

Sidhu was fined £400 for plying for hire. He was also given seven penalty points on his licence for driving with no insurance.

He was ordered to pay the council’s costs of £2,000 and a victim surcharge of £40.

Sidhu was not disqualified from driving, after his defence argued that losing his licence would cause exceptional hardship.

Speaking after the hearing, Coun Rachel Lancaster, cabinet member for public services said: “We are determined to clamp down on private hire drivers blatantly ignoring and breaking the law by coming into Coventry and picking up passengers with no prior booking.

“One of our top priorities is the health and wellbeing of our residents and this joint operation with West Midlands Police and our own taxi licensing team, 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.

“This sort of illegal plying for trade also has an effect on our own licensed taxi drivers who ensure they are fully compliant with our licensing conditions.”

source: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/c ... er-9894640

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

Little bit more on this

Private hire driver found guilty after Coventry council sting



Coventry City Council has prosecuted a Nuneaton and Bedworth private hire driver for illegally plying for hire and having no insurance – after a night-time sting.

The council says its is determined to clamp down on private hire drivers from other areas coming in to Coventry against the law.

Such private hire vehicles are not allowed to pick up passengers without a prior booking.

Council bosses say it affects the ability to trade of licenced taxi and private hire drivers in Coventry.

Peter Kumar Sidhu, 47, of Doebank Lane, Coundon was found guilty at Leamington Magistrates’ Court on August 14.

He was fined £400 for the plying for hire and given seven penalty points on his licence for having no insurance.

He was also ordered to pay the council’s costs of £2000 with a £40 victim surcharge.

The prosecution arose out of a joint night-time operation in January involving plain clothes and uniform police and officers from the Coventry City Council taxi licensing office.

Just after 11pm, the undercover police officers were standing on the corner of Croft Road, Coventry, when they noticed a Mercedes Vito pull up displaying signage for Edwards Taxi’s – a Nuneaton and Bedworth operator.

The officers approached the vehicle and Sidhu agreed to take them to Beake Avenue for £7.

Whilst en-route to his destination, Sidhu’s vehicle was intercepted by uniformed officers and directed to a site where council taxi licencing officers were waiting.

Sidhu admitted to picking up the passengers and stated he was doing it as a favour because of poor weather conditions and because he was going back that way.

Councillor Rachel Lancaster, cabinet member for public services said: “We are determined to clamp down on private hire drivers blatantly ignoring and breaking the law by coming into Coventry and picking up passengers with no prior booking.

“One of our top priorities is the health and wellbeing of our residents and this joint operation with West Midlands Police and our own taxi licensing team 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.

“This sort of illegal plying for trade also has an effect on our own licensed taxi drivers who ensure they are fully compliant with our licencing conditions.”

Sidhu’s defence successfully argued there would be exceptional hardship if he lost his licence, so he was not disqualified by the court.

source: http://coventryobserver.co.uk/news/priv ... ting-9188/

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

This seems to suggest that Councils can prosecute drivers that are not licensed by them. Ours say that they can only report them to their own licensing area.

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Grandad,

One chancer caught, but how many go uncaught?

I suspect it was a joint exercise, and where the police told the driver to go licensing officers from a number of areas were present.

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IDFIMH

99.99%.

And it will never change.

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IDFIMH

it was someone illegally plying - what's the difference between a car with a PH plate from another area, and one with no plate, or one with a plate for the area - by any judgement they were illegally plying

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

I tried to argue this point with our enforcement team but they insisted that they had no powers against a vehicle plated in another area.

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Grandad,

The report does not say this and it suggests the the prosecution was brought by the Council where he was plying.

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Grandad,

Oh yes they do have the powers....

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!