Luton black cab driver Ayoub Khan loses appeal against council decision to cancel his licenceA JUDGE has upheld Luton Council's decision not to renew the licence of a hackney carriage driver who was caught speeding and tried to implicate another driver.
Mr Ayoub Khan, 59, of Fitzroy Avenue, Luton, was ordered to pay council costs of £1,100 within 28 days, in addition to the £983 already awarded by the Magistrates' Court.
Luton Council outlined three separate complaints about Mr Khan related to overcharging, leaving a taxi unattended in a town centre rank, and a police investigation into an allegation of attempting to pervert the course of justice linked to two speeding offences committed in Leicestershire and Milton Keynes.
The authority and the magistrates made the original decision not to renew the licence and this was backed by the crown court after it considered his final legal appeal last Thursday (October 15).
In court, Mr Khan denied any knowledge of documentation sent to his home by two separate police forces relating to speeding offences, although the police had received paperwork apparently signed by him implicating another driver.
However, forensic evidence confirmed the signatures on the paperwork were likely to be Mr Khan's.
After consideration, the court believed Mr Khan had signed the speeding documentation himself or got someone else to sign on his behalf.
The court did not accept Mr Khan as a fit and proper person to hold a hackney carriage licence and, on the balance of probabilities, believed he had been overcharging fares.
Cllr Don Worlding, chair of the Council's Administration and Regulation Committee, said: "The local authority grants hackney carriage licences and does everything possible to keep the travelling public safe."
He added: "It's always a pity when we have to resort to refusing a licence for a driver who fails to meet the high standards required by the council and deserved by a professional trade."
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