Taxi Driver Online

The massive crackdown on taxi drivers illegally picking people up - 30 cabbies have been taken to court

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... y-16802367

'Operation Aztec' has been a success for the council

Thirty private hire drivers have been prosecuted as part of an operation to clamp down on them illegally picking up fares on the street.

Manchester town hall last year launched an operation to clamp down on drivers 'plying for hire.'

Private hire drivers are only allowed to collect pre-booked fares and if they pick up passengers from the street without a booking this means they are not insured, and it is illegal.

Manchester council says it is 'proud to have some of the most stringent policies and standards for drivers and vehicles in the country'.

"However drivers working for different local authorities, who operate under different standards, are frequently coming to Manchester to trade, sometimes illegally," bosses added.

Since July 1 last year, 'Operation Aztec' has seen 30 drivers successfully prosecuted, with chiefs saying there are currently a further 71 cases pending which have been referred to the city solicitor for proescution.

Three of those prosecuted were dealt with by magistrates in Manchester in July.

Taimoor Baig, 33, initially came to the attention of council officers when he was stopped in December 2017. His car had been involved in a crash and was not roadworthy.

Damage the vechile had sustained to the offside front headlight meant the bulb was dazzling oncoming traffic, posing 'a significant risk to public safety'.

Mr Baig's licence was suspended while repairs were carried out.

It was discovered that even after his licence was suspended, he continued to work in the city centre picking up fares illegally.

Mr Baig, of Farley Way, Stockport, pleaded guilty and was given a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £200 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for having no insurance and using an unlicensed vehicle.

On June 13 last year - the day Beyonce played a show at the Etihad - a Sefton council licenced car was recorded pulling into a lay-by near ground before picking up a passenger following what appeared to be a short negotiation.

When questioned, driver Adnan Khalil initially told officers he was in the area to pick up the friend of a friend.

Shown footage recorded by council officers he changed his story and admitted plying for hire.

Mr Khalil, of Kippax Street, Moss Side, pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty by magistrates of plying for hire and having no insurance.

He was fined £750, ordered to pay £475 costs, a £45 victim surcharge and was given six points on his licence.

Raja Farrukh Jamil, 44, was reported by a black cab driver in Manchester city centre on July 17 last year. He was suspected of illegally plying for hire.

Dash cam identified Jamil as the driver and checks confirmed he had not received bookings

Mr Jamil, of Fairbourne Road, Levenshulme, pleaded guilty was given a four month disqualification, fined £472, and ordered to pay £250 costs and a £47 victim surcharge for plying for hire, and having no insurance.

Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar, executive member for neighbourhoods, said after the hearings: “What these convictions have shown is that private hire drivers who break the law will not get away with it.

"Our enforcement officers are diligent in the work and we are grateful to have the support of the majority of law abiding drivers on our streets.

"We want Manchester to be a safe place but that cannot happen if drivers think they can break the rules to make a fast buck.

"Manchester council has set the benchmark in the north west for the standards of our taxi fleet and Manchester licensed private hire vehicles, and we do not want to see our trust with the public eroded by the actions of those drivers who think they are above the law.

"The regulations are there to safeguard the public, and we also need their help.

"We encourage the public to use Manchester Licensed vehicles, using our taxi fleet if they want a vehicle immediately on the street, or pre-booking a private hire vehicle.”

wash your mouth out with soap and say 100 hail mary's young Stuart

PH drivers are not cabbies

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

As I think I've said before, the thread title is my own wording, but the headline at the top of the article is usually just copied with the rest of the article, so it's the newspaper's responsibility.

So I usually try to make the thread title technically correct, and bear in mind that it's aimed at a specialist audience, so if the reader sees 'PFH crackdown' then they'll generally be aware that it's about private hire drivers plying for hire without having to specifically say so.

Of course, as regards the terminology used in newspaper reporting etc, we've been here millions of times before, but bear in mind too that it's aimed at the general public rather than a specialist audience.

I would also like to point out that in many areas 'out of town' hackneys are often the worst offenders in respect of plying for hire.

So there.

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IDFIMH

Indeed, and to that extent my thread title could have been more specific and refer to PHDs, rather than 'drivers', since no suggestion (in the article at least) that HDCs involved, and particularly as I'm always looking to abbreviate things to squeeze more info into the thread title.

But thought that PFH and PHD in the same line was over-abbreviating things a bit, so 'drivers' it was.

(For what it's worth, considered '101 drivers prosecuted', or similar, but strictly speaking not all have been prosecuted at this time, although the intention seems to be to prosecute all 101. So went with the vaguer 'action taken', which means that pedants like Edders don't have an easy target to pounce on. And to use the word 'prosecute' and add other words to make it technically accurate would have taken too much space.)