Boro Taxis driver abused a traffic warden then 'swore at a child' sitting in back of his cabhttps://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/tees ... n-16409074Tasadiq Zaman was left with the youngster whose mother was collecting a parcel but things escalated when the warden told him to move his car
Image: Teesside LiveA former taxi driver has failed to regain his licence after he “swore at a child” in the back of his cab.
Teesside Magistrates heard Tasadiq Zaman lost his temper with a youngster after dropping off his mother to pick up a package from Wilko, in Thornaby.
The bench heard how the then Boro Taxis driver got out of his car to confront a traffic warden before returning to the crying child.
Passions ran high during the licence appeal as tearful Thornaby mum Claire Rowbottom gave evidence on Monday.
The court heard how the driver stopped in the service area at the back of the shop to allow her to pick up a parcel.
But she had doubts - telling the bench she immediately regretted leaving him in the car with Zaman.
When she ran back outside, she found the car had moved with her young son in the back crying and “scraping at the windows” to get out.
Ms Rowbottom said: “He (Zaman) was screaming and aggressive - he told him to sit down and shut the f*** up.
“I threw the money at him through the window in shock and he continued to shout. He said the warden was a f****** a******* - he swore at my child and the warden as well.”
Ms Rowbottom retrieved her son from the car after the episode.
But magistrates also heard accounts of what happened while she was in the shop.
They were told a traffic warden had repeatedly told Zaman couldn’t park in the unauthorised area.
Zaman then got out of his car to confront the warden.
John Hare, a traffic warden of 15 years, told the bench the taxi driver was “very abusive” and swearing at him.
And he later told the court Zaman had moved towards him in an aggressive manner.
But solicitor Neil Turner, for Mr Zaman, asked whether the warden could understand why he’d parked in the zone and not moved his car in a bid to keep the child calm.
Mr Hare said: “As far as I’m concerned I’ve got a job to do - he should have moved.”
Mr Turner added: “That’s a pretty inflexible approach to life is it not?”
Mr Hare replied: “I’ve got a job to do.”
The warden told the court he heard Zaman shout at the child but didn’t hear what was said.
Stockton Council’s other licensing committee revoked Zaman’s licence at a hearing in January - ruling he was not a fit and proper person to drive a private hire vehicle.
Zaman, of Wellesley Road, Middlesbrough, flatly denied all the claims when questioned and insisted he did not use abusive language.
The court heard how Zaman had no criminal convictions but had been on an anger management course.
Mr Turner said his client had to react to circumstances as they arose, that the traffic warden had been “inflexible by his own admission” and Zaman had worked since 2007 with no convictions to his name.
But solicitor Joan Smith, on behalf of Stockton Council, argued Zaman was not a fit and proper person to drive a taxi.
Ms Smith said: “We have to put this in the context of Mr Zaman having a history of anger issues - we have to bear that in mind.
“You have heard that he approached Mr Hare in an abusive and aggressive manner and acted in an abusive and aggressive manner towards a child."
Ms Smith said taxi drivers often dealt with “hair raising situations” and transported vulnerable passengers and lone children to different destinations.
But she said she did not believe Zaman was a “fit and proper person” on the back of the evidence.
The bench did not believe Zaman’s version of events and rejected his appeal.
He was made to pay court costs of £500.
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