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Pirate taxi woman gets £300 fine and ban
A WOMAN who used her private car as a commercial taxi was fined £300 and banned from the roads. Claire Ward, 35, of Danycoed, Ystrad, Rhondda, admitted using a private hire motor vehicle without a private hire driver licence and driving without insurance.
Rhondda Magistrates’ Court heard that last October a joint exercise was carried out by Rhondda Cynon Taf council and South Wales Police, where Ward was reported and her vehicle confiscated under the Serious Organised Crime Act 2005.
Magistrates fined her £150 for each of the two offences and ordered her to pay £100 prosecution costs. She was also disqualified from driving for two months.
Speaking after the case, the council’s cabinet member for communities and joint chairman of the community safety partnership, Paul Cannon, said: “We are working hard to tackle the problem of unlicensed vehicles and drivers trading in certain parts of Rhondda Cynon Taf and we are committed to ceasing such trade.”
