Taxi Driver Online

Daily Post (Liverpool)

November 6, 2007, Tuesday

Police get tough on rogue taxis

POLICE in Merseyside have seized 36 vehicles and issued 108 tickets in a recent crackdown on rogue taxi drivers and illegal parking.

The cars were seized for illegally parking on taxi ranks and the tickets given out for causing an obstruction.

Operation Otis also saw eight private hire taxis seized and nine drivers - five from Sefton, two from Wirral and one each from Liverpool and Knowsley - reported for plying for hire and insurance offences.

Plain clothes officers and licensing officers from Liverpool city council spoke to private hire drivers to see if they would accept passengers without an advance booking - an illegal activity which can lead to prosecution and seizure of the vehicle.

Two other private hire drivers received tickets for waiting on hackney ranks.

Council spokesman Malcolm Kelly said: "Taxi ranks are clearly marked and there is no excuse for other cars to park there."
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Liverpool Daily Echo

November 13, 2007, Tuesday

Letter: Short points

David Riley

I HAVE read the article on the taxi blitz (ECHO, Nov 6) about police and council cracking down on private hire drivers picking up in wrong areas. I think it would a lot better to first target the young idiots who throw stones at and steal from our taxi drivers.

David Riley, Bootle
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