Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver doubts he'll help any others after council fine him £200 for giving pensioner free lift in the rain



They claim he breached taxi licence conditions during the three-mile journey

A taxi driver who gave two men a free lift in the rain says he will think twice about helping anyone after being fined for his actions.

Phil Hamilton, 40, from Newtownabbey, has been ordered to pay £200 after he drove a pensioner and his friend from Belfast city centre to the SSE Arena.

The community worker and part-time taxi driver had been on duty and waiting for a booking, when he was approached by the men who he said claimed to be lost.

Mr Hamilton added: "I was parked in Brunswick Street and had been visiting a war veteran and instead of going home to Newtownabbey to start my shift.

"I just parked up and was on my e-reader reading about General Colborne Nugent when this man tapped my window.

"He said he and his friend were up from Newry and were lost and wanted to get to the Odyssey and they wanted to hire me to drive them over.

"I said it was OK and that I'd drop them over no problem. The older man looked a bit agitated and very cold and wet and I thought it was the least I could do.

"I didn't light up my taxi sign because I was simply giving them a lift because they needed help. My meter was on so I wouldn't get a call from the depot while I was driving them over. It clocked up £6 but I didn't charge them anything because it was just a favour to the men who I felt needed a hand.

"I told them that if I ever got lost in Newry and they were about, they could help me out. They were both a bit shocked and the older man seemed quite flummoxed but I was glad to help and showed them where they could get a coffee to warm up and dry out.

"No money exchanged hands. I was happy to help them out because I felt sorry for them and I reckoned that was my good deed done for the day."


But days after the November 5 incident, Mr Hamilton received a letter from the Department of the Environment telling him he was being fined £200 for breaching his taxi licence conditions.

Mr Hamilton told the Stephen Nolan radio show he was given three weeks to pay the fine or face prosecution.

Mr Hamilton said: "I understand now that I may have been part of a sting to try to stamp down on dodgy taxi drivers but they got the wrong man. I was just going to pay the fine but I'm going to fight it now because I didn't do anything wrong.

"The Department of the Environment will have to prove to me that I took a fare for the lift I gave in good will and they can't do that.

"I've always been a fella to help others out. That's just my nature and that will never change but I'll think twice now about stepping in to help others out because of the mess I've found myself in."

A spokesman for the DoE said: "DVA is unable to comment on the specifics of this case. In enforcing taxi rules and regulations, and as with any other law enforcement agency, it would be inappropriate to publicly disclose operational investigative practice in respect of its enforcement methodology.

"This would invariably make the already challenging enforcement role more difficult and potentially undermine the Agency’s ability to deter and detect offences, while also exposing enforcement officers to a greater health and safety risk."

source: http://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfa ... p-10543664

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

Jackanory !

Hmmm, it clocked up £6! Why would you put a meter on if you were doing a favour?

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Common sense........is just not that Common.

Ah, he explained that by saying that he did it to stop the base sending him a job.

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Grandad,

If no money changed hands, then I believe him, for me that's the difference.

why would anyone do that ? taxi for free? getting there hope he gets hammered tbh

I've done it twice, once when a girl needed to get to hospital for a transplant. And I gave a girl a lift to the train station, and I was out of area on them both. The first one none of the local firms would take her, the second was let down by a company, I didn't charge because I knew it would be an illegal fare. I explained this to both of them, the second one said she would pass my good deed on.

Bizarre ! this doesn't quite add up

I wonder how the enforcement authorities knew unless the two men he picked up were licensing officers.

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

hmm.. well you have a murderer as your avatar, so means nothing to me what you say, irrelevant

hmm.. well you have a murderer as your avatar



kettle and teapot springs to mind !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

eh? am i a murderer then ? where is alex ? ( jail , where he should be) fooking coward , should be hung tbh

A Royal Marine jailed for murder showed “poor leadership” and “moral disengagement” when he killed an incapacitated Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan by shooting him in the chest, .

Man City fan has the avatar of soldier convicted of murder that doesn't mean he is a murderer you have as an avatar an animal renowned for killing men but again that doesn't mean you are a murderer but your'e avatar is not of an innocent is it ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector