Where to start with all this? Not the incident so much, which is all a bit 'he said, she said'-ish.
And sounds a bit like our rank, with a disabled space which I think is superseded by the taxi rank during its hours of operation, but the public think the disabled markings supersede the rank. But I'm sure that even if it is a disabled space, it's not used by genuinely disabled people. Anyway, enough about that, but can certainly see how the kind of thing below arises...
But, like the Edinburgh PHD last week, this shows the dangers of falling foul of the modern media, and thus your photo and details are splattered all over the press. This one's on the Glocs Live website, but this is the ITV News version below (they're by the same LDRS journalist, and look more or less identical, with same photos).
And I'm guessing the photos were released by the council to the press. The one from the licensing committee appearance is credited to the council on the Glocs Live site
And, of course, no doubt the photo chosen for release has been selected on the basis that it makes the driver look as angry as possible...
Would also be interesting to tie the published photos in with the narrative as described in the article. At what point were the photos taken, and by who? They're certainly difficult to reconcile with the precise events described below
Cheltenham cabbie suspended for a month after being 'rude and abusive' to disabled driver
https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/20 ... led-person
Taxi driver Malcolm Rogers will also have to go on a training course
Image: ITV News
A taxi driver from Cheltenham has been suspended for a month after a complaint was held against him for being abusive to disabled driver.
Malcolm Rogers appeared at Cheltenham Borough Council's licensing sub-committee who considered the complaint on December 16.
A registered disabled driver complained about Mr Rogers' behaviour towards him on October 20.
He said Mr Rogers was rude and abusive to him on Pittville street earlier that day.
The complainant also said Mr Rogers' questioned how genuine his disability was in public, which he found upsetting.
He said the issue arose when he drove into the end of the taxi rank to reverse into the disabled bay when Mr Rogers pulled up directly behind him.
The complainant said: “The taxi driver came up so close to me, so quickly, it was almost like it was intentional. I was already reversing, I know this as the reversing sensors on my car went haywire when the car got close.
Image: ITV News
“I looked behind and I could see the taxi, and I thought ‘where the hell have you just come from?’"
“It was clear from seeing his car that he was a taxi driver and I thought he’d move back and then go in front of me onto the taxi rank. There was space in front of me for him to pull into but he didn’t move, he just sat there.
“I attempted to reverse a little bit more, so the driver would see that I’m reversing into the disabled space. I only went back a few inches and he beeped his horn at me.
“At first he refused to move and finally after a while, probably only a minute but it often feels longer, he moved out.
"I reversed into the disabled space and the driver then pulled into the taxi rank in front of me.
“I placed my blue badge onto my dashboard and got out of my car.”
He said he looked into the taxi as he walked past and Mr Rogers looked back and gestured to him by putting his hands up into the air.
“It looked like he said something too but I couldn’t hear because his window was up. I shrugged my shoulders in the same way back to him and he then opened the door and said ‘come here’ and proceeded to get out of his car.”
The driver asked Mr Rogers if he saw him reversing into the disabled bay. Mr Rogers replied “well you’re in a taxi rank”
“I said to him, ‘that’s a disabled bay, you can’t park there anyway’. He then said ‘you’re not disabled there’s nothing wrong with you’ and I said to him ‘the badge is on the dashboard, go and have a look’.”
Image: ITV News
He claims Mr Rogers then said he 'didn’t care' about the badge and that there was 'nothing wrong with him.'
“I said to him, ‘How do you know? I could have terminal cancer which isn’t necessarily noticeable.'
“And his response was ‘well that’s the good news, what’s the bad?’ You could hear people giggling at what he said when he that.
“It left me feeling disgusted and appalled, not to mention uncomfortable. I shouldn’t need to explain my disability to anyone, let alone in front of the eyes of so many members of the public.”
Mr Rogers told the committee that he disputed what the complainant claimed he had said. He also said he had been suffering from anxiety and would not have made the comments about cancer.
Mr Rogers said: “My daughter has been diagnosed with cancer, my son is due to have an operation on his spine and my wife has an aneurysm in her head and is awaiting surgery, so the last thing I want is any other problems with people like this.
"I understand that he was probably upset from road rage, and needed to get it off his chest, but it really was not this serious.
“I did not say anything to the driver other than inform him that he was parked on a taxi rank.”
The committee voted to suspend Mr Rogers for a month and delegate officers to set out the type of training required. This course will have to be done at his own expense.
Mr Rogers has 21 days to appeal the decision. If no appeal is made the licence will be suspended for one month. If the training course is not completed satisfactorily, Mr Rogers must return before the licensing sub-committee.
