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Leicester Mercury
December 10, 2007 Monday
Former taxi driver fined by magistrates
A taxi driver turned away three passengers because he had been attacked by one of them in the past, a court was told.
Mohamed Bhamji (44), of Mere Road, Spinney Hill, Leicester, pleaded guilty in Leicester Magistrates' Court to refusing to drive a hackney carriage and contravening his licence. He was fined £100, with £50 costs, and ordered to pay £15 towards victims of crime.
Sarah Khawaja, for Leicester City Council, said the offence was committed in Gravel Street, Leicester, at about 2.15am on August 12.
Two police officers saw two women and a man in their 20s waiting for a taxi.
Ms Khawaja said: "All three were well-dressed and certainly not intoxicated.
"One of the officers opened the door of Mr Bhamji's cab for them to get in but he said he did not want to take them as they would cause trouble.
"Instead, he said he would take a group of three rowdy, intoxicated, youths waiting further down the street."
Bhamji, interviewed on September 23, accepted he was the cab driver and said he recognised the man from 14 months previously when he had refused to pay his fare and had assaulted him, knocking off his glasses.
He did not report that incident to the police.
Ms Khawaja told the magistrates that Bhamji no longer held a hackney carriage licence and was in breach of a six-month conditional discharge imposed on March 23 this year.
The penalty was imposed when he was convicted of refusing to take a passenger who was accompanied by a guide dog.
Bhamji, representing himself, said all the details were correct.
He said: "I had taken this guy before and my safety comes first.
"The police were not there then when he punched me in the nose and eyes and broke my glasses. Since then I have lost my job, lost my licence and had to sell my taxi."
The magistrates told him they would take no further action on the conditional discharge and accepted his offer to pay the fine and costs at £10 a month.
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