North Wales taxi driver fined £105 for spending a penny
A taxi driver has told how he tried to spend a penny but has ended up having to pay £105. Hugh Jones says rules state you can’t leave your vehicle and therefore make it unavailable to hire.
The 67-year-old, a taxi driver for 25 years, had surgery on an enlarged prostate in 2019 but still sometimes has to go to the loo urgently when nature calls. However, he says when he got caught short one day in March he stopped in Rhyl to go to a friend’s toilet, but was promptly fined £35.
Mr Jones, of Rhyl, tried to gather evidence to prove he had had the op but by that time the fine had risen to £105, which he doesn't feel he should pay. He said: “I had this sudden urge to go to the toilet in March.
"I parked in the high street in Rhyl to go to the toilet at my mate's newsagent's. I was only gone five minutes and I was fined £35. I wanted to spend a penny but have to pay £105!” he blasted.
Mr Jones, a married Dad-of-two, added: “Going to the toilet is a basic human right. I had to wear a catheter bag for six months `but I couldn't hack it anymore so I paid £7,800 to go private in Wrexham.
"I even gave the council evidence of my operation from my surgeon but they didn’t want to know.” Mr Jones appealed to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal Service but has lost.
He had been officially told he can go to the High Court but couldn't afford it. "I'm a hard working man but I had to take out a bank loan to pay for my operation yet the council could spend thousands (on their case)."
A spokesperson for Denbighshire County Council said: “The Council does not comment on individual cases.”
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