Judge makes an example of fake cabbie... with jail termA judge made an example of a fake taxi driver by jailing him for 21 months.
He also banned Waseem Akhtar, 32, from sitting in the front seat of a taxi by imposing a criminal behaviour order, successor to the old-style Asbo.
Akhtar pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud relating to taxi licensing.
He passed off a car as a taxi on classified advertising website Gumtree and sold it for more than £2,000 with false documents.
He also posed as a taxi driver and used an Audi which had a false Gedling Borough Council plate.
And he defrauded a cab company into renting him a Skoda, because he claimed his taxi was damaged and in for repair.
He repeated the offence days later, Nottingham Crown Court heard yesterday.
Recorder Paul Manntold Akhtar: "You were posing as a taxi driver to innocent members of the public, who were not to know if you had an accident you were not insured, nor were there safety checks to your vehicle.
"I'm afraid it's time to pay the price. This is a case where the court has to make an example of you, so legitimate taxi drivers can see why it is so important, so they stay on the right side of the law."
Akhtar, of Dovedale Road, Bakersfield, had never been a taxi driver for Gedling Borough Council. But he sold his vehicle, claiming it was licensed with the council.
He tampered with the licence plate to change the date and produced a fake paper licence in order to make a profit.
Although the plates may have appeared convincing to the public, an alert member of staff from the borough council's licensing department spotted something was wrong.
Akhtar was a repeat fraud offender. He had been jailed in 2013 for six months for falsely claiming he held a taxi licence, following previous convictions for the same offence.
Councillor John Clarke, leader of Gedling Borough Council, said: "Our staff spotted the fake plate immediately and this sentence will act as a deterrent to anyone thinking about doing something similar.
"When we get into a taxi, we trust them to be properly licensed, so we want to assure residents that we will continue to be vigilant against this. If anyone sees anything irregular, we ask them to report it to us."
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