Taxi Driver Online

Endless high dudgeon here

I mean, I'm all for zero tolerance, but it's the inconsistency with all this kind of thing, when more self-evidently serious stuff is just ignored...


Uber driver stripped of taxi licence for 'serious' offence

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... s-offence/


Image: Telegraph & Argus

An Uber driver is one of 25 cabbies to be stripped of their licence in the last three years for an “incredibly serious” offence.

A Freedom of Information request to Bradford Council has revealed how many drivers have had their taxi licenses revoked after being convicted of driving while using a mobile phone.

Since 2024, 25 drivers have lost their licence for this reason.

Uber driver on phone while driving

One driver who had his licence revoked for using a phone appeared at Bradford Magistrates Court this week to appeal the decision.

Zulfiqar Ali received six penalty points on his licence when a police patrol saw his taxi weaving in its lane on Rooley Avenue in February.

When they pulled up next to him, they saw he was holding his mobile phone against his steering wheel, and appeared to be using it.

He was given six penalty points, leading to his licence being revoked.

'Incredibly serious' offence

During the appeal, which was ultimately dismissed, magistrates heard about Bradford Council’s policy on taxi drivers who are caught using mobile phones.

The head of Taxi Licensing told the court that mobile phone offences are considered “incredibly serious” by the council.

The current policy is that any driver with a taxi licence issued by Bradford Council who is convicted of a mobile phone offence will have their licence revoked, and banned from re-applying for a licence for several years.

The Telegraph & Argus asked Bradford Council for a breakdown of how many drivers had been stripped of taxi licenses for mobile phone offences since 2019.

25 cabbies have licence stripped

The response said its current system meant the council was unable to provide data going back that far – but gave figures from 2024.

In 2024, eight private hire drivers had their licence revoked.

In 2025 another eight private hire drivers and one Hackney Carriage driver were stripped of their licence.

And so far this year, a further eight private hire drivers have lost their licence.

Offence 3 months after he gained taxi licence

Mr Ali, 48, of Hopefield Way, off Rooley Lane, had his licence revoked in March, after being spotted by police on his mobile phone in February.

He appealed the decision, meaning he could keep his licence until the appeal was completed.

The appeal was heard at Bradford Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Nicola Hoskins, representing Bradford Council, said Mr Ali had been granted his taxi licence by Bradford Council in November 2025.

The offence happened just three months later.

Dropped phone once officer next to him

Detailing what led to the driver being pulled over, the court was told that an officer on mobile patrol had seen Mr Ali’s car “weaving in its lane.”

The officer pulled next to the vehicle while it was at the traffic lights near Asda, and looking into the Uber.

Miss Hoskins said: “The officer could clearly see the driver holding his mobile phone in the middle of the steering wheel.

“The screen was fully illuminated with an app on display.

"When he realised a police officer had pulled next to him, he dropped the mobile onto the passenger seat.”

He was given six points, and reported the offence to Bradford Council himself.

A decision was taken to revoke his licence on March 12.

Steven Knighton, regulatory and compliance manager at Bradford Council, told magistrates that the policy of revoking the licence of drivers found to have committed mobile phone offences was introduced in 2018.

The policy is intended to “ensure the safety of the travelling public.”

Mr Knighton said Mr Ali was interviewed, when he told council officers that the phone had fallen off a phone caddy on his windscreen.

He picked it up and was in the process of putting it back when the officer spotted him.

Miss Hoskins said: “Is a mobile phone matter considered minor or major?”

Mr Knighton replied: “Mobile phone offences are considered incredibly serious. The council sees it as an offence of choice, and it is very serious.

“The policy precludes someone from holding a licence for five years if they have committed this type of offence.”

Training should have been 'fresh in his mind'

Pointing out that Mr Ali had only been granted his licence three months prior to the incident, he said: “He would have only recently completed training on the impact driving offences can have.

"It should have been fresh in his mind.”

Mr Iqbal, representing Mr Ali, suggested the council had been too rigid in applying the policy.

He said their had been other instances where the authority had deviated from its policy and allowed drivers to keep their licence.

Mr Ali, speaking through an Urdu interpreter, told the court he had been a taxi driver for 14 years – having held a licence in Birmingham before moving to Bradford.

There had been no incidents of concern before the mobile phone incident.

He denied that he was using his phone, repeating the claim that his phone had fallen from its caddy and he was putting it back on in place.

After an hour’s deliberation, magistrates dismissed the appeal, saying there was “no compelling reason” to allow him to keep his licence.

He will have to pay the council £640 in costs.

Anyway, if I was going to court, I wouldn't wear a suit like the Bournemouth chap.

Maybe a tad overdressed these days

But I'd make a bit of effort, and not roll up to court dressed like the guy at the top

I wonder if the magistrates bother about stuff like that.

I daresay some do, but of course they'll all have different views on stuff like that, just like the rest of us...

According to the latest stats from the DfT, Bradford has over 10,000 licensed drivers.

So the 8 drivers a year who have had their licenses revoked are less than minuscule.

And that's even assuming that all those revoked were for iffy reasons rather than medical.

_________________
IDFIMH

Pretty sure the revocation figures are only for the mobile phone offence, Sussex

That makes more sense.

And those drivers are idiots.

_________________
IDFIMH

That's maybe where Taxi Point's 'licensing authority comparison engine' might come in handy for finding stuff like this quickly, rather than fannying about with the source data in the various and cumbersome DfT spreadsheets

So on each local authority's page (which is easily found via the 'authority explorer' menu option, and then using the search facility near the top) there's a section further down labelled National Register (NR3S).

Which in Bradford's case reveals there's been 116 revocations and 80 suspensions, presumably for the year to 1 April 2026.

Which sounds about right, at least as compared to eight per year, or whatever.

Of course, as I think I said a year or so ago regarding the whole NR3S stuff, it's interesting to compare councils as regards data like this, and how some are self-evidently more inclined to suspend rather than revoke, and vice versa (which in turn brings to mind the whole plying for hire thing, for example ).

Equally, since the Taxi Point facility depends on the source data on the DfT spreadsheets, if that source data is incorrect then the Taxi Point stuff will be as well.

For example, off the top of my head, on the last set of DfT spreadsheets didn't Calderdale show zero suspensions and/or revocations, or at least very low numbers. But this is a big authority (mainly Halifax) and at the heart of grooming gang territory. Zero suspensions and revocations? Aye, right

So either the Calderdale data as reported was bollocks, or they've got a very odd approach to it all. Or maybe they simply didn't record the relevant data on NR3S, although I'm sure we concluded on here that it was compulsory to record it by that time.

Anyway, just to say that the Taxi Point engine seems like a fantastic tool. But the usual 'garbage in, garbage out' caveat. And by the looks of it, it'll take a bit of effort to get to grips with it all

And even if numbers like revocations and suspensions are recorded accurately, each local authority self-evidently takes very different approaches to how they do stuff like that.

Which, of course, all depends on how they perform compliance and enforcement stuff in the first place - not all local authorities are a Reading or Trafford

And what's a suspension anyway? Isn't a failure in a vehicle inspection a suspension?

I'm pretty sure they're not recorded on NR3S, so what's the criteria for an NR3S entry?