Taxi Driver Online

Taxi Driver Fuming At £200 Fine

20th September 2008

An angry taxi driver hit out this week after he picked up a £200 fine for not displaying a 'no smoking' sign in his car.

Peter Kerr was stopped by council enforcement officers after dropping off a fare in Kerr Street, Kirkintilloch.

He was stunned when the officer told him he would receive the fine for failing to display a 'no-smoking' notice.

Peter appealed to be let off with a warning, but the officer insisted that the £200 would have to be paid.

Peter said: "I tried to explain to him that it was unfair and I hadn't been told about the signs, but he said all taxi drivers had received a letter about it."

"I've not received any such letter and I want to see proof that it was sent to me."

"I think it's unfair that they don't give a warning first. If there's something wrong with your vehicle the police give you a vehicle defect slip and you get 21 days to repair it."

"It's out of order and they don't seem to realise that this will cost me two weeks wages."

"I don't even smoke and I'm certainly going to be appealing."

But East Dunbartonshire Council insist that they are just getting tough on those flouting the law.

A council spokesperson said: "We can confirm that a taxi driver was issued with a £200 fixed penalty notice for failure to display 'no smoking' signs in his vehicle."

"The new legislation about smoking in public places has been in force for two and half years now and this obligation to display signs has always been part of the law."

"The council did not start off straight away by issuing fines, but decided it was best to work with businesses to help them comply with the legislation. For the most part it has been working well."

"However, in July, following complaints from members of the public, we took the decision to write to all local taxi businesses to remind them of the law and to say that from September 1, fines would be issued to anyone failing to comply."

"We understand that the driver in question intends to appeal, as is his right. We will defend the appeal at the appropriate time."


Source; Kirkintilloch Herald

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

There are two questions here.
One does he own the cab?????
two, if the stickers have to be in place, why was this not picked up at the taxi inspection, if its a requirement it should be on the test paper for the examiner to check

Your probably right....but at the same time presuming he went for his test with four good tyres.....does that mean he doent need check them until his next test?

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

You're missing the point CC. When he went for his test, his taxi presumably had tyres on it. However, it clearly didn't have a no-smoking sign.

Anyway, this guy is being made an example of in a most fascist way. But the trade will allow it to happen to him and won't back him up.

Which is probably what the council wanted anyway. Another stiffing of the trade to show who is the "boss".

Once again though, on his own, if he doesn't pay the fine, he loses his job.

Councils are driving people to the brink. It's only a question of time before a "Columbine" happens in a council near you.

Are you suggesting that someone is going to go into a council office and shoot people? Well it won't happen in my area because we don't have a council building, every thing has to be done by post.

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Grandad,

Let's be quite clear, I'm not saying that anyone should do this. Indeed I would hope that it never happens. I'm not proposing anyone should take such foolish action.

The point I'm making is that councils are now behaving so badly, are becoming such control freaks, that they are ruining our lives. They are interfering to the point where they have become the masters rather than the servants.

This shows democratic accountability to be an illusion, witnessed by the near 70% of the electorate who no longer vote. They realise it is a pile of shecht so don't play the game any more. It wouldn't matter who you voted for, all parties, and independents are clones who quickly become subservient to the system administered by the unelected buraucrats, because that is how they preserve their status and build their gravy train careers.

But something has to give.

It occurs to me that elected officials go off on some tangent that means something only to them and their egos, while the real protest at council actions is conducted ever more by members of the public engaging in real protest and opposition.

Debate has now moved out of the council chamber onto the streets. This is a deeply worrying scenario. We all know where this can lead, and who wants that.

But how else can we make city hall accountable?