Taxi Driver Online

Evening Times (Glasgow)

February 9, 2007

HEADLINE: Ban threat for city's yellow box cabbies; TOA boss warns drivers caught using mobiles

Adrian Higgins, chairman of Glasgow TOA, is supporting the Times campaign

GLASGOW cabbies face a citywide driving ban if they are caught blocking yellow box junctions or using a mobile phone.

TOA bosses have ordered a crackdown on taxi drivers and are being backed by licensing chiefs.

The blitz has been triggered by a photograph in the Evening Times which showed a cabbie talking on his mobile phone while driving along a busy city centre street.

Adrian Higgins, chairman of Glasgow TOA, today said said: "We will strip them of their driver's registration which means they can no longer drive for us." Such a move would still enable a cabbie to drive for a private hire firm, but licensing chiefs could enforce a Glasgow-wide ban.

Warnings of tough sanctions come as a direct result of the Evening Times "Get Glasgow Moving" campaign. The paper has highlighted the traffic chaos caused when vehicles block busy box junctions and we have shown the dangers posed to pedestrians and other road users by motorists who flout the law by using their mobiles while driving.

Mr Higgins added: "We're backing the Evening Times and are warning our drivers not to block box junctions or use their mobiles while driving. "We're taking this action as a direct result of one of our drivers being featured in the Evening Times.

"Within 30 minutes of the paper hitting the streets the driver phoned me up to say it would never happen again and that he had bought himself a hands-free kit.

"He decided to contact me because he knew he had done wrong and did not want me spending a lot of time trying to track him down. "He was very apologetic and assured me he had learned his lesson, but he was given a stern tickingoff."

A spokeswoman for the city's licensing committee said any case highlighted by the police would be investigated. "The suspension of a driver's licence is an option if the circumstances warranted it, " she added.

gordon. thomson@ eveningtimes. co. uk
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