At least the licensing chair is being consistent here compared with the overcharging revocation, but this just makes the committee as a whole look ridiculous compared to the piece posted yesterday by Sussex
](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
Man who threw lit firework from car granted Glasgow taxi licence
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/257 ... i-licence/
A man who narrowly missed members of the public when he threw a firework outside an office block has been granted a licence to drive private hire cars in Glasgow.
Police Scotland objected to Sheharyar Asim’s bid to become a private hire driver due to four convictions, which also included intent to supply cannabis.
But the city’s licensing committee granted him a six-month licence after the applicant said he had made “significant changes” to his lifestyle. Mr Asim was handed a severe warning over his future conduct by councillors.
Police Scotland had argued the applicant was “not a fit and proper person” to hold a licence due to his convictions.
An officer said the applicant, in 2016, while “acting with another did travel in a motor vehicle, slow down outside an office block and throw a firework or similar onto the pavement”.
It caused an “explosion which narrowly missed members of the public”, she added. He was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.
In December 2021, he was fined a total of £650 for driving without due care and attention and possessing 1.2g of herbal cannabis, the committee heard. Both incidents occurred in 2019. The officer said Mr Asim had raced through traffic lights and an underground car park.
Then, in April 2023, he was convicted of possessing plastic tubs and sealed bags containing cannabis, with the intention of supplying them, councillors were told. He was told to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
Mr Asim’s latest offence was committed in May 2022 when he “drove his vehicle from a stationary position, narrowly missing two police officers, causing them to take evasive action”, the committee heard. He was fined £250 and given five penalty points on his licence.
Cllr Alex Wilson, SNP, who chairs the committee, said: “Were you trying to complete a bingo card of offences? What on earth have you been up to?
Mr Asim said: “I understand and acknowledge that I have made mistakes in my earlier life, I take full responsibility for my actions. Since those offences I have made significant changes to my lifestyle.”
He added he had become a father and has been in full-time employment since the offences. “I’ve kept out of trouble,” he said.
“I no longer use cannabis, over the past two years I have been clean.”
Cllr Wilson, seconded by Cllr Sean Ferguson, SNP, wanted to refuse the application. However, Cllr Leòdhas Massie, Your Party, backed by Cllr Eunis Jassemi, Labour, moved that the licence was awarded for a restricted period of six months.
Baillie Kevin Lalley, Labour, and Cllr Abdul Bostani, SNP, voted for Cllr Massie’s amendment, which passed by four votes to two.
