Quite apart from the plying for hire angle, not really clear what this driver's status was. Makes it sound like he wasn't actually working for anyone, but had applied to drive for Uber, but was still waiting for his activation. But he just happened to check to see if he'd been activated after he'd dropped a friend in town
I wouldn't be surprised if he was working for another office in Glasgow at the time (although not necessarily regarding his 'friend' who he'd just dropped), but that's unclear from the piece.
Anyway, bit of a slapped wrist in the national context, particularly since he didn't even attend the hearing
Glasgow private hire driver suspended after being caught 'pirating'
https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glas ... d-34100073
The driver had claimed he wasn't going to charge a fare for the journey.
A private hire driver has been suspended after he was caught allegedly ‘pirating’ for fares.
Muhammad Janaghir was given an eight-week ban by licensing chiefs in Glasgow following an incident in December last year.
Councillors on the city’s licensing committee made the decision after a complaint from the taxi and private hire enforcement unit.
Pirating is where a private hire car driver picks up passengers off the street who have not booked in advance.
While black cabs are allowed to take people without a booking, private hire cars are restricted to passengers with a pre-arranged booking.
Officers in the council’s enforcement team had seen a “male conversing with a private hire driver through the front passenger window”.
“As the male was entering the vehicle, officers approached the vehicle, identified themselves and asked if this was a pre-booked hire,” the committee heard.
“The driver said he wasn’t working at the time, he hadn’t been able to log on to his Uber app as there was a problem with the app.”
Officers told the driver that taking passengers without a booking was “a breach of his private hire car driver’s licence conditions”.
At an interview in February, the driver said he had been waiting for his account with ride-hailing app Uber to be activated.
He claimed he had dropped a friend off in town and then “pulled over onto Union Street to check again if I had been approved on the Uber system but I still hadn’t”.
Councillors were told the driver had said: “That was when I was approached by a man, who was from Europe and didn’t speak very good English. He showed me a map and asked me to take him.
“I was on my way home so I told him I would take him but I wasn’t going to take any money from him. I realised this was a mistake and I wouldn’t do it again.”
Mr Janaghir did not attend the licensing hearing. When drivers ‘pirate’ for trade, their insurance is invalidated.