Interesting - plenty of police involvement by the looks of it, but nothing to suggest he's ever been convicted of anything. Although I suspect a newspaper article will only provide the briefest of summaries of quite a complex and detailed scenario - the committee's meeting lasted four hours...
Bolton taxi driver loses licence after grooming and assault allegationshttps://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/17 ... legations/A TAXI driver accused of grooming a 15-year-old girl and assaulting his wife has lost his licence. He allegedly sent a number of Facebook messages to the young girl in an attempt to groom her for sex in 2015 and was arrested following a police investigation.
He was also arrested for an assault on his wife in 2010 but no subsequent action was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service.
The driver, described as a “sexual predator”, wanted to renew his private hire driver’s licence but was turned down by Bolton Council.
He tried to use his children’s disability and his wife’s depression in his defence but this was given limited weight.
The licensing sub-committee considered the application following a series of complaints against him for inappropriate behaviour.
A complaint was received in June claimed that he was abusive towards his wife who was aware he had been “messing about with kids”.
This incident resulted in an argument and the police were called but they let him go.
The complainant further added that the wife did not feel she could report him for domestic violence as he would hit her more.
The man denied the grooming offence even though photos of the 15-year-old girl were found in his phone showing contact had been made – although messages had been deleted.
He denied contacting her more than three years ago, but the committee did not find this credible.
He also denied using Facebook altogether, claiming he may have been hacked, even though he had previously indicated that he used Facebook on route with the police to the Bolton Custody Suite.
Police suspect that he deliberately discarded his phone in the bathroom of a private address following arrest but lied by saying he had lost it the day before.
The phone number was checked against documentation from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children and confirmed it was the same number.
The decision not to renew the licence was made at a licensing sub-committee meeting on October 26 which the man, his wife and his solicitor attended.
His wife admitted ringing the police but denied feeling threatened which the sub-committee did not find credible.
The sub-committee also heard verbal evidence from the licensing officer.
It was established that he failed to declare the arrests in three previous declaration forms in accordance with the conditions of his licence.
The meeting, which was chaired by Cllr Madeline Murray, lasted four hours.
Councillors Hilary Fairclough, David Greenhalgh, Susan Haworth and Debbie Newall also attended the meeting.
The sub-committee noted: "Members of the public and in particular, the elderly, infirm and children or vulnerable adults entrust their personal safety and wellbeing to private hire drivers whenever they take a journey. Passengers often travel alone and are vulnerable to inappropriate behaviour.
"The Sub- Committee’s primary duty is of concern for the safety and well-being of the public.
"There is therefore reasonable cause to refuse to renew the private hire driver’s licence."
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