Taxi Driver Online

Still no team line ups or match score

Brighton the away team, though, eh?

But a new feature this time - a shiny big photo of Old Trafford

Slightly odd narrative style here for a council news release as well.

But at least it makes the usual Trafford Council shooting-fish-in-a-barrel thing seem a tad more interesting.


Private Hire driver fined after illegal pick up after Manchester United match

https://www.trafford.gov.uk/news/2026/p ... ited-match

Undercover Trafford Council officers caught a Private Hire driver in the act after he illegally picked them up outside Old Trafford on a Manchester United match day.

https://www.trafford.gov.uk/sites/defau ... k=f4V5xbJZ

Abdul Kayum Talukdar, 47, of Brook Street East, Ashton-under-Lyne, was parked on double yellow lines after Manchester United’s match with Brighton on 25 October 2025.

He then drove towards undercover officers from Trafford Council’s Licensing Enforcement Team, lowered his window down and agreed to take the officers into the city centre.

When the officers asked him how much it would be, he cheekily asked, ‘how much will you give me?’ before insisting on £20. Shortly after the journey began, officers identified themselves and asked him to pull over. Mr Talukdar, making the motions of crying pleaded that he was sorry and it was his ‘first time’, asking the officers not to take him to court as he had a wife and small children.

However, at Manchester Magistrates Court on Friday 2 October, Mr Talukdar pleaded guilty to unlicensed ply for hire and driving without proper insurance. He was fined £500, with a surcharge of £200 and £300 contribution to costs, as well as six points on his driving licence.

Cllr Keleigh Glenton, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Community Safety and Civil Contingencies, said:

“This court results shows that we take the safety of the public very seriously. Only Hackney Carriages licensed by Trafford Council are permitted to pick up fares without a booking. This driver committed the offence of illegally plying for hire. By doing so, he invalidated his insurance which puts the lives of Trafford residents and visitors at risk.

“Trafford’s Hackney Carriage drivers work hard to provide transport for those who need it in the borough. I want to thank our licensing enforcement team for their commitment to protecting the borough by taking swift and decisive action against illegal activities at one of our most popular visitor destinations.”

Don't think it says where he's badged and plated.

But his address is in the Tameside Council area, and about eight miles from Old Trafford

just down the road from the Etihad but you never hear of cars getting caught there .

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Aye, so he lives in the Tameside Council area, and Old Trafford is within Trafford Council.

The Etihad is at about the half-way mark between his address and Old Trafford. And is in the Manchester City Council area - in fact, it seems the stadium is owned by Manchester City Council.

But what you say all comes back to a discussion we had a few months ago - the stats for those sort of thing often depend on:

1 Compliance and enforcement activity. And prosecutions thereto

2 Publicising it

So Trafford Council are obviously good at both of those. Or maybe overzealous, at least compared to the average authority.

The likes of Wolverhampton, on the other hand, simply can't do 1, because of the remoteness and the sheer numbers, at least in the pro rata sense, and despite all the spin about LOs out all over the country all the time

As regards 2, Wolverhampton are effectively the antithesis of Trafford - even if they do catch drivers plying for hire, say, they'd prefer to keep it quiet

And I know all that geography stuff because of my friend Google

His address is to the far right, the Etihad is marked about the mid-point, while Old Trafford is the last point to the left here:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Brook+S ... FQAw%3D%3D

(Assuming these links work...they look roughly similar in the two different browers I use on my laptop (Firefox and Edge), but a bit different via my phone. Which I think uses Chrome, but of course a different version from the laptop one )

The only thing being caught there are cheats, 114 times.

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IDFIMH