Taxi Driver Online

This trial was supposed to happen in February, and now won't be finished until August, but it's not clear why

Anyway, this place is right opposite the front of our main night rank. The rank has been there for a couple of decades, but this place only opened at the back end of lockdown.

Could say lots, but won't, for obvious reasons. But regular readers on here will be aware of some of the background.

But maybe interesting to note that he had a taxi for a while, so he was well placed for picking up folks from the front of the rank, while doing food deliveries from his takeaway if need be. And he'd also use the rank to park while bringing supplies into the takeaway

Anyway, he only had the taxi a few months, and got rid.


St Andrews takeaway boss on trial over sexual assault allegations

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/co ... l-assault/

Ugur Emre denies all the charges he faces at Dundee Sheriff Court.

A teenage girl told a court she feared being raped by a St Andrews takeaway boss who she alleges sexually assaulted her.

The17-year-old claimed she had been left “ruined” by the actions of Ugur “Jack” Emre, owner of the Fife town’s Big Boss “party” restaurant and Little Boss ice-cream shop.

Emre, 42, is on trial at Dundee Sheriff Court in connection with alleged sexual assaults, making sexual remarks and offences relating to the sale of alcohol and vapes.

Then aged 16, the girl alleged she was attacked by Emre on separate occasions in August 2024.

She told the court how she was sitting on the stairs in Little Boss when Emre, who had been sitting in front of her, moved behind her.

“I felt his hands on my shoulders,” the girl told fiscal depute Michael Robertson.

“He was rubbing my shoulders, down my back, on my chest and in my bra.

“He moved them up to my neck and then my face. His fingers were on my lips.”

Mr Robertson asked: “Did Jack say anything during this?”

The girl replied: “He asked if I had ever had sex before. I said no.

“I froze and I couldn’t speak. He asked if I felt relaxed. He asked if I was horny.

“I was staring at the wall crying. He asked if I wanted to go downstairs.”

When questioned about what she understood that to mean, she told the prosecutor: “I thought he was going to do something else.

“I thought he was going to rape me.”

The teenager described running out of Little Boss before being comforted by a friend and vomiting in the toilet at Big Boss.

She alleged Emre grabbed her face and tried to kiss her in a separate incident, which she said “terrified” her.

The court heard claims the teenager discussed her experiences with friends over social media.

It was alleged by the girl Emre sexually assaulted her again in Little Boss by trying to kiss her.

She said: “He put his hands on my face. He told me that he wants to be with me.

“He grabbed my face and tried to pull me in. I pushed him off me and said ‘no, I’m 16’.”

The girl described making a TikTok some time later about Emre’s alleged behaviour towards her.

Defence counsel Murray Macara KC questioned the discussions the girl had with her friends on social media about Emre.

He said in cross-examination: “Have you and your friends got together to tell a story and tell lies about Jack?”

She replied: “No”.

Mr Macara suggested the incident on the stairs “simply did not happen” and his client did not touch her on the face or body, to which the girl retorted: “Yes, he did.”

Emre, of Market Street, denies five sexual offence charges, five licensing allegations and two allegations relating to working time regulations.

The trial before Sheriff Gregor Murray will continue in August.

I suspect the judge or the defence team has other commitments.

_________________
IDFIMH

Photos here are mainly the promo stuff, and there's that daft promo video again.


Sleazy St Andrews takeaway boss sexually assaulted teen in ice cream parlour

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/co ... ream-shop/

Big Boss owner Ugur Emre denied all the charges he faced at Dundee Sheriff Court but was found guilty after a trial.



https://content.jwplatform.com/previews/aqYpNqPA

The sleazy former boss of a rowdy, late night takeaway and ice cream parlour in St Andrews sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl who feared she was going to be raped by him.

Ugur “Jack” Emre is now at risk of being jailed after being found guilty of offending at Big Boss takeaway and ice cream shop Little Boss.

The businessman claimed to be one of the most famous people in St Andrews and boasted Tiger Woods as a customer in his “party” restaurant.



His trial heard how Emre provided alcohol to underage girls and allowed them to drink on the premises.

Emre, 42, flatly denied the allegations and claimed a group of girls had conspired against him.

He is now on the sex offenders register after being convicted at Dundee Sheriff Court of the 2024 offences.

One of Emre’s victims said she was physically sick and felt “ruined” after being sexually abused at his hands.

She described sitting on the stairs in Little Boss when she was 16 and Emre, who had been sitting in front of her, moving to sit behind her.

She told the court: “He was rubbing my shoulders, down my back, on my chest and in my bra.

“He moved them up to my neck and then my face. His fingers were on my lips.

“He asked if I had ever had sex before. I said no.

“I froze and I couldn’t speak. He asked if I felt relaxed. He asked if I was horny.

“I thought he was going to rape me.”

The girl said she ran from Little Boss – which had only been open for a few weeks – and later told friends about the attack.

The victim felt “terrified” after two other incidents during which Emre had tried to kiss her.

Now 17, she added: “He put his hands on my face. He told me that he wants to be with me.

“He grabbed my face and tried to pull me in. I pushed him off me and said ‘no, I’m 16’.”

Two other girls were also subjected to lewd remarks from Emre, who told one of them he had a youthful complexion because he rubbed semen on his face.

Police became involved after a Facebook post circulated on St Andrews community pages “warning” people about Emre.

Big Boss was synonymous with a raucous atmosphere where drunken customers would be encouraged to sing karaoke and dance while they waited for orders.

Emre claimed he sold the business to another firm in April this year.

In his own evidence, Emre, originally from Turkey, denied the sexual assault ever occurred and told defence counsel Murray Macara KC no remarks were made.

Emre replied “no” and “no, sir” to repeated questions from prosecutor Michael Robertson about the allegations.

He said: “I have been a successful businessman how many years, Mr Robertson?

“I should not be here (the court). I have got over 17,000 Instagram followers. People, they don’t believe it.

“Friends came from Los Angeles to get a picture with me at the Fairmont. If I am that bad a person, why would they do that?

“I have a taxi business, why would I do these things to somebody?

“I am not accepting the charges and that’s why I am saying I’m not guilty.”

Mr Robertson asked: “They have all made it up to get a successful businessman like you in trouble?”

Emre replied: “Yes sir, everyone in St Andrews thinks Jack has run away. I have not run away.”

In his closing speech, the prosecutor said Emre’s behaviour was a “sustained course of clandestine conduct”.

Sheriff Gregor Murray found Emre guilty of sexually assaulting one girl and making non-consensual sexual remarks to two others.

He was also convicted of two charges relating to licensing and supplying children with alcohol as well as forcing young staff members to work during a restricted time.

Emre was cleared of three other sexual offences and two charges relating to alcohol and working time regulations.

Mr Macara revealed police have launched an investigation after Emre alleged Crown witnesses racially abused him outside court on Monday.

Sentence was deferred until October for a social work report to be prepared and Emre is now subject to sex offender registration requirements.

I thought he'd dumped that after a few months, but he certainy stopped driving it, assuming he still had a plate by then.


So now you tell us

Who knew?

Looks like a case of someone thinking they are invincible.

Thankfully, the court found otherwise.

_________________
IDFIMH

So, as well as parking on our main night rank associated with the takeway, and other hazards like the karaoke crowd in said takeaway dancing around the rank area when you're trying to outmaneuver round the illegally parked cars, I think it's fair to say the takeaway has proved to be something of a danger to the public.

At least the takeaway close to our other town centre rank will be better, surely?

Oh, wait...


Debt collector jailed for stabbing St Andrews kebab shop boss

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/co ... shop-boss/

Yusuf Eroglu was locked up for three and a half years after being convicted after a two-week-long trial.


Image: The Courier/DC Thomson

A debt collector has been jailed for stabbing a kebab shop owner outside his St Andrews business.

Yusuf Eroglu was sentenced to 42 months in prison for the repeated attack outside St Andrews Shawarma House.

Eroglu and his older brother travelled more than 50 miles to the Fife town to chase the kebab shop’s Turkish boss over debts.

Police quickly identified the attack to be a targeted strike.

Married father-of-two Eroglu claimed he had been punched first and told social workers his victim had inflicted the injuries on himself to frame the enforcers.

A sheriff told him “only a lengthy prison sentence” was appropriate due to the “significant and life-changing injuries” he inflicted.


Image: The Courier/DC Thomson

Found guilty

In July, a jury at Falkirk Sheriff Court found Eroglu guilty of assaulting Aydin Dag on South Street in St Andrews on November 7 in 2023.

The majority of jurors found Eroglu seized his victim by the neck and repeatedly stabbed him on the body with a knife or similar item.

They agreed this left Mr Dag severely injured, permanently impaired and permanently disfigured.

Mr Dag, then aged 33, was taken to hospital after the assault, which happened at around 6.30pm on a Tuesday evening.

The two-week-long trial heard had been struck on his right arm and he may never regain full sensation in his right hand, with a higher risk of developing a claw hand in future.

No weapon was ever found.

Eroglu’s older brother, 42-year-old Mehmet Eroglu, was found not guilty of the assault.

Two other men were acquitted of other offences that night earlier in the trial.

Court told of ‘considerable’ debt

Sentencing was deferred for Eroglu, ordinarily of Harewood Crescent in Edinburgh’s Niddrie area, to be interviewed by social workers.

He was brought back to the dock from HMP Low Moss where he has been on remand since the conclusion of the trial.

The 38-year-old was aided throughout proceedings by a Turkish interpreter.

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... 6x95sz.jpg
Image: The Courier/DC Thomson

His solicitor advocate Lee Qumsieh said: “Mr Eroglu maintains his position insofar as he says there was no knife or similar implement.

“His brother was owed a considerable amount of money… and the money had been outstanding for some time.

“His brother had been pretty patient about matters up until that point – that’s the background context.”

Family difficulties

The solicitor continued: “The period on remand for him is his first ever taste of custody.

“He has found the period in custody extremely difficult. It’s also had an impact on his family.

“His wife had opened a business recently – a takeaway.

“His wife has been left trying to run that business and look after the two children, all the while trying to work out what to tell the children about the whereabouts of their father.”

The court heard Eroglu has a Justice of the Peace level assault conviction from more than a decade ago.

‘No question of remorse’

Sheriff Craig Harris said: “You were convicted of a serious offence of assault, using a knife or similar object, in a public street.

“The assault has caused severe and long-lasting injury to Mr Dag.

“The attack was after you and your brother had travelled to St Andrews to seek out Mr Dag.

“That conduct involved repeatedly stabbing him with a knife or similar object – that weapon was something which you must have brought with you to the meeting.

“The harm you have caused is very significant.

“Mr Dag is now permanently disfigured and permanently impaired, having lost the full use of some of his fingers on one hand.

“His victim impact statement described how this has truly affected him and the impact this has had upon his day-to-day life.

“It has had what he describes as a lasting and profound effect.

“There is no question of remorse being shown. Your position in the report is that Mr Dag caused these injuries to himself in an effort to set you and your brother up.

“You assaulted Mr Dag using a weapon you had in the middle of the street in the early evening in the town centre and caused him significant and life-changing injuries.

“That is a serious offence and one that can only be met with a lengthy prison sentence.”

To be fair, the rank isn't quite as close as the other takeaway is to the other rank, and the incident above didn't involve the general public. But, you know...


These were the original charges

• Yusuf Eroglu, 36, from Edinburgh, was accused of assault to severe injury, assault and possessing a weapon.
• Robin Renus, 60, from Edinburgh, is charged with assault, threatening and abusive behaviour and weapon possession.
• Ali Ulger, 41, of Enfield, Greater London is accused of assault.

I mean, in the great scheme of things it's not that much. But this is supposed to be St Andrews, which some portray as the epicentre of Western civilisation

For what it's worth...


EXCLUSIVE: St Andrews takeaway to rebrand after former owner’s sex attack conviction

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/busines ... d-birdies/

Theo Kalopedis now owns Big Boss takeaway - soon to be called Birdies - which used to be run by Ugur Emre.

The new owner of a St Andrews takeaway is rebranding the business after its disgraced former boss was convicted of a sex attack on a teenager.

Theo Kalopedis, who took over Big Boss earlier this year, wants to change the name of the Bell Street takeaway to distance it from the previous owner.

It comes after former owner Ugur ‘Jack’ Emre was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at the takeaway.

The sleazy businessman, who claimed to be one of the most famous people in St Andrews during his trial, committed a number of offences at Big Boss and ice cream shop Little Boss.

The now-17-year-old victim, who cannot be named due to her age, told The Courier of her anger after Emre was released on bail as he awaits sentencing in October.

Theo, who moved up from Derby and took over the business in April, says there is a “very obvious reason” for the rebrand.

The 34-year-old said: “Since we took over the business, the last six months have been absolutely crazy.

New owners bring forward plans for Big Boss name change

“When we purchased the business from Jack, we had absolutely no idea of the sexual assault allegations he was facing.

“At first, we didn’t want to change the name straight away because Big Boss is such a recognisable name and strong brand in St Andrews.

“However, in recent months, that has obviously changed, and therefore we have brought forward plans to change the name.”

Theo says the takeover has been in the works for “about a year” after he visited Big Boss while playing golf in St Andrews.

He said: “I came up for a golf trip around a year ago and visited Big Boss.

“Jack happened to be working at the time, and as someone with a background in chip shops, we started ‘talking shop’.

“One thing led to another, and I asked if he would be interested in selling the place.”

Theo says Emre was keen for the sale to go through quickly, but did not know why at the time.

He admits many customers have asked if Emre is still involved in the business following his conviction, which he firmly denies.

Big Boss takeaway to undergo golf-themed rebrand

He insists that Emre no longer has anything to do with the business, and he “can’t remember” the last time he saw him.

Emre was also convicted of two charges relating to licensing and supplying children with alcohol, as well as forcing young staff members to work during a restricted time.

At a Fife Council Licensing Committee meeting held in January, a new late hours catering license was applied for at the Bell Street premises by Leicester-based SNEM Ltd.

The application was approved on the condition that the previous licenceholder, Emre, was not involved in, or working at, the premises at any time.

Big Boss will be rebranded to Birdies once a planning application to change the sign has been approved.

The takeaway has been transformed inside and is full of memorabilia collected by “golf-obsessed” Theo.

The businessman added: “The name obviously comes from my love of golf.

“What better location to have a golf-themed takeaway than in the heart of St Andrews?

“This place is paradise to me.

“My family have had a background in chip shops since my grandparents moved from Cyprus. We are very much a family business.”

========================================

This is the new owner with a new staff member, and another photo with his mother, and the photo of the exterior is a mock up pending planning permission. I think all the previous staff and the dodgy delivery car have all disappeared

The old Facebook page was dumped fairly early on as well, and had some fairly ropey-looking stuff on it...

Not sure to what extent it's been 'transformed' inside, but I'd guess it's not quite as glitzy and glam as the old interior, which was maybe more appealing to the younger students and Jack the Lad's wannabee rock star persona

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... 40x564.jpg

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... 707397.jpg

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... 7x1152.jpg

Not sure if he's still got the bar and liquor licence, but this was when Jack had it - just your average kebab shop

No word of Jack's sentencing yet

But just to say that if anyone is wondering what's happened to the perhaps 100s of my own photos and the like that I've posted on here over the years, the Imgur site I used for hosting them has fallen foul of the Government's Online Safety Act, or whatever it is

Not that the Government has actually banned the site (which is a USA-based service, I think), but they've taken the decision to block access from the UK in case they're sued or prosecuted. Or something along those lines.

(I think one of those VPN (Virtual Private Network) thingies allows you to get round that sort of thing (there's quite a lot of stuff on Twitter apparently caught up in a lot of this) but that's more cash, and in the grand scheme of things there's other stuff I'd prefer to spend cash on online, even assuming I had some to spare )

Anyway, most of the photos on here aren't affected, because they're basically just links to photos on newspaper sites and the like that the articles on here are, er, borrowed from, and they're not caught up on all this online censorship

Just in case anyone was wondering...

Disgraced St Andrews takeaway boss spared prison for sexual assaulting teen

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/co ... ed-prison/

Ugur 'Jack' Emre has been ordered to pay thousands in compensation and is on the sex offenders register.

The disgraced ex-boss of a rowdy St Andrews takeaway convicted of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl has been spared a prison sentence.

But Ugur “Jack” Emre is now on the sex offenders register for five years for attacks carried out at Big Boss and ice-cream shop Little Boss.

Emre’s terrified victim told his trial she feared she would be raped.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard he plied young girls with alcohol and allowed them to drink on the premises.

Emre, 42, vehemently denied all of the accusations and claimed a group of girls had conspired against him.

“It was your job to ensure they (the girls) were safe,” Sheriff Gregor Murray told Emre in sentencing.

“You flagrantly breached that.”

The sheriff said he could step away from imposing a jail term on Emre and ordered him to pay a combined £5,000 in compensation.

Big Boss, based on Market Street, was synonymous with a raucous atmosphere where drunken customers would be encouraged to sing karaoke songs.

The Courier reported last month how the takeaway had been rebranded as Birdies under new ownership.

However, Emre’s defence advocate appeared to suggest his client was still the owner of the premises.

The court heard Emre has since moved to Cupar and plans to develop properties for homeless people.

During the trial, the now-17-year-old victim said she was physically sick and felt “ruined” after being sexually abused at his hands.

She described being on the stairs in Little Boss when Emre, who had been sitting in front of her, moved to sit behind her.

She told the court: “He was rubbing my shoulders, down my back, on my chest and in my bra.

“He moved them up to my neck and then my face. His fingers were on my lips.

“He asked if I had ever had sex before. I said ‘no’.

“I froze and I couldn’t speak. He asked if I felt relaxed. He asked if I was horny.

“I thought he was going to rape me.”

The girl said she ran from Little Boss – which had only been open for a few weeks – to Big Boss, where she later told friends about the attack.

Emre, originally from Turkey, later tried to kiss her.

Two other girls were subjected to lewd remarks from the creep. He told one of them he had a youthful complexion because he rubbed semen on his face.

Police became involved after a Facebook post circulated on St Andrews community pages “warning” people about Emre.

He was convicted of sexual assault, making non-consensual sexual remarks, supplying children with alcohol, licensing offences and forcing young staff members to work during a restricted time.

Emre – who claimed to also run a taxi business, a nail salon and a barber shop – was cleared of three other sexual offences and two charges relating to alcohol and working time regulations.

Murray Macara KC, defending, said: “He recently moved address from above the premises on Market Street.

“He still owns the property and the business undertaken from that property.

“He is engaged in refurbishing what was a commercial property in Cupar for flats for residential use.

“It’s going to be accommodation for homeless people in north-east Fife.”

Emre, a father-of-two, was previously convicted of domestic offending for which he was given a community payback order.

Sheriff Murray said three of the charges were not jailable offences, adding the sexual assault was “not at the upper end”.

Reference was made to Emre’s health difficulties, for which he has been receiving treatment in his homeland.

The sheriff said: “If I balance all of these considerations, I arrive at the conclusion a robust community-based package of sentences would be sufficient to punish you and to deter others.”

Emre must perform 250 hours of unpaid work and pay a total of £5,000 in compensation.

He was placed on a restriction of liberty order (9pm-9am) for six months and will be subject to the sex offenders register for five years.

Non-harassment orders lasting five years were also granted to protect his victims.

Angry victim

Emre’s victim previously told The Courier she would be “very, very upset” if her abuser was not jailed.

The 17-year-old – 16 at the time of the offences – said: “The public loved him, but they didn’t know what was going on behind closed doors.

“It made me really, really angry, and all I wanted to do was scream about what he did to me in front of everyone.

“It made me really frustrated that everyone loved him, but he basically ruined my life behind closed doors.

“I don’t think I will ever fully get over it. It’s just learning to live with it, but it’s very difficult.

“I’ll never be able to forget it.”

You don't need to pay for a dedicated VPN, you could try using the Opera One browser.

It has a built in VPN that you can enable when needed. I've just tried it on this topic and all your images have appeared Ok.

Thanks for the information, Mr Cerberus - might try downloading Opera as a secondary browser, although I've been using Firefox for years now, and kind of stuck in my habits