Taxi Driver Online

A bit different from the usual stuff, but not the easiest case to work out exactly what's going on.

Teesside taxi worker who sent unlicensed driver on school run has court order overturned

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/tees ... t-15780523

A court had previously ruled Shaban Khan could not hire and fire amid concerns over insurance certificates and unlicensed drivers taking on jobs


Image: Teesside Live

A Teesside taxi firm has overturned a council-backed order preventing one of its staff from "hiring and firing" at its call centre.

Shaban Khan is barred from the day-to-day running of the control room at Royal Cars, in Thornaby, on the back of orders made in a court case in 2014.

But Teesside magistrates decided to relax the rules at a hearing on Monday (February 4) - allowing Mr Khan to "hire and fire" staff in its operations centre but keeping him away from any managerial responsibilities.

Stockton Council revoked the operating licence of Royal Cars in 2013 due to concerns about insurance certificates and unlicensed drivers taking on jobs.

This decision was then reversed on appeal at court - but conditions were imposed, including an order which stopped Mr Khan from getting involved in the management side of the firm and a condition ordering company directors to appear at council licensing meetings.

Solicitor Antony Schiller argued these two conditions were not necessary in their current form - as it was impossible for one person to carry out all management roles at the firm.

He said Mr Khan had "rehabilitated himself" since his previous convictions in 2009 and a regulatory offence in 2012 - adding he had got NVQ certificates and a cab licence from Middlesbrough Council.

But barrister Joan Smith, representing Stockton Council, said the conditions from 2013 were "still needed today" given past breaches.

She said: "The control room is at the heart of taxi licence operations and at the heart of ensuring licensed drivers collect customers - they handle a huge amount of private information about customers and their vulnerabilities.

"Shaban Khan has demonstrated he would rather send out an unlicensed driver than take control."

Teesside Magistrates' Court heard how Mr Khan had dispatched an unlicensed driver on a school run job while in charge of the control room - resulting in a final written warning.

Members of Stockton Council's "other licensing committee" had refused to alter the two conditions in July last year - sparking this latest legal wrangle.

Ms Smith said the existing conditions "were not arduous or onerous" and very simple to for the firm to follow.

Mr Schiller said Mr Khan would not be "at the heart of the operation" in the control room - telling the court his role would be "hiring and firing staff", organising rotas and nothing to do with the regulatory side of the business.

He also said it was "to the firm's credit" that they had been rarely called to appear at Stockton Council's licensing committee in the past five years.

Janet Cogdon, chairwoman of the bench, said the decision had been "carefully considered" and agreed to the appeal on Mr Khan's order.

Mr Khan will still be barred from any management role at the firm but will be allowed to manage the recruitment or disposal of call centre staff and oversee the staff rota.

However, the condition ordering Royal Cars directors to appear at licensing meetings will still stand.

The council tried and failed to recoup £1,500 in costs from Royal Cars at the end of the court hearing.


Imran Khan (Image: Royal Cars/Teesside Live)

After the case, Royal Cars general manager Imran Khan said it was a shame the matter had to come to court given the "all good work" between the council and the firm in the past.

He added: "It's tough out there as it is without this - the last thing we want is to come to court over such petty things.

"It's wasting of taxpayers' money. We're a big operation and we work very closely with the local authority."

Councillor Steve Nelson, Stockton Council’s Cabinet Member for Access, Communities and Community Safety, said: “Taxi firms provide a valuable service to the public and we have a duty to make sure they operate to the highest standards.

“The conditions being appealed by Royal Cars today were actually imposed by a District Judge sitting at Teesside Magistrates Court in 2013 and so it seems wholly appropriate that the appeal was also heard by the court.

“We respect the court’s decision to effectively reinforce those conditions while bringing further clarity to how they are applied.”

No, nothing to do with the regulatory side of the business at all



Nothing to do with management at all, obviously


Yes, sounds like it - I mean, the court had to impose a condition forcing management to appear before the licensing committee?



More confusion - councillor trying to say court agreed with council and just clarified what the conditions meant?

What a mess?

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IDFIMH

Yes, I mean, what are we supposed to make of this?:



Then the article describes Imran Khan as Royal Cars' *general manager*, the job title presumably sourced from the firm itself.

But I suppose it all depends on how far up the office food chain Khan actually is now compared to what he was, but the necessary distinction doesn't really come across within the confines of the article.