Taxi Driver Online

Not much to this story apart from the numbers involved - council obviously been busy in Cardiff

Sixteen private hire taxi drivers prosecuted in Cardiff

http://www.itv.com/news/wales/2018-08-2 ... n-cardiff/

Sixteen private hire taxi drivers have been prosecuted for illegal plying for hire in Cardiff and driving without insurance.

It came after a 'mystery shopping exercise' by council officers targeting private hire vehicles which are not allowed to pick up customers from the street without prior booking through an operator or an app.

The majority of the drivers were fined £300, ordered to pay £150 in costs, a victim surcharge of £30, and were given eight penalty points on their license.

Fourteen of the drivers were using Cardiff licensed private hire vehicles. The remaining two were licensed in Newport and Rhondda Cynon Taff.

Only Cardiff licensed hackney carriages can be picked up from a rank or hailed in the street without booking beforehand.

Such taxis are either black with a white bonnet or resemble London taxis, and all display a lit roof sign when available.

They also display a licence plate on the rear of the vehicle as well as the driver’s photo ID on the left hand side of the windscreen which is also worn by the driver.

Time to hit the ‘cherry pickers’ on the hacks next I hope.

the jungle drums must be really slow down there for 16 to get caught

round here if taxi licensing are in town everybody has heard within 5 minutes of them being spotted

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

A properly run "Mystery Shopper" exercise doesn't use Licensing Officers.

When they did it in Bournemouth they used Law Students from the University. It worked really well. The local association started it and the LA did their own as well. When a Driver was "Caught" he or she didn't know it at the time. The people they used could and I believe did, write their own statements and were chomping at the bit to be called as witnesses at the trials.

Doesn't matter how good the Jungle Drums are, if you don't see a Licensing Officer or Copper you don't know they have caught you, until you get the letter telling you when your PACE interview is.

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related