Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver upset at licensing decision

FORMER taxi driver Emma Pankiw says she has lost her livelihood and the job she loved because a licensing committee refused to listen to reason.

The 32-year-old, from Grantham, had been running Location X taxi firm for a year and was due to have her licence reviewed in July.


She filled out an application form and declared that she had a prosecution pending for making nuisance phone calls.


Emma was due to appear in court to face the charges on August 5, but her appearance before South Kesteven District Council's licensing committee fell four days before that.


The committee refused to renew her licence because of the pending prosecution, forcing Emma out of work.


She was subsequently found not guilty of making nuisance phone calls and Emma believes the committee could have delayed its decision until her case had been heard in court.


The mother-of-one said: "It's so unfair that they didn't wait to find out if I was going to be convicted or not.


"Because they couldn't wait four days, I've lost the job I loved and me and my son Emerson are now having to live on state benefits.


"They jumped to conclusions about my fitness to be a driver and have caused a lot of upset because they wouldn't listen."


Emma officially lost her licence on August 8 and now has 21 days to appeal.


A council spokeswoman said they did not want to prejudice a potential appeal against the decision and issued a short statement.


She said: "The committee has made its decision based on the usual statutory principles in accordance with licensing law.


"If Miss Pankiw feels aggrieved by this decision, she has the right to appeal to the Magistrates Court within 21 days of receiving her notice."

http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/Taxi-driver-upset-at-licensing.4401360.jp

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

She, knowing how Council Jobsworths tend to operate ...well, the more fool her for saying anything about a forthcoming courtcase...you only usually put down these things under " Any Previous Convictions" after the event.

She will win the appeal, but the council are acting in a really typical civil servant manner.

i.e. brain dead.

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IDFIMH

I blame the licensing officer.... they need retraining

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Guilty until proven innocent. Thats the way it works isn't it? Well in Grantham anyway.

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Grandad,

You want a bet?


The same thing happened to a guy up here. The council need only judge each case on its merits. Okay, so nothing was proven prior to her court case. So what do the council now know that they didn't before the case went to court? As long as they followed the correct procedure she's stuffed.

They don't even need specific reasons for denying a licence only that they considered everything in in its entirety before coming to a decision.

Jim and I think we might have this cracked. I've even spoken to a lawyer but we're keeping our powder dry in the event we get pulled.

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

Oh and btw, Edinburgh Council are pulling licences like it's going out of fashion.

The council can pull your licence no matter what you say in your defence. Instead of begging for mercy you need to go on the attack.



The trick is, setting them up for your appeal - they are not bullet proof.

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

I think you will find Your license renewal application form demands that you inform the council of any pending court appearances. This is what she did and she complied with the regulations. There are some on here who will tell you that councillors know best and there are also some on here who will tell you that councillors and licensing officers should never have been given new powers to suspend or revoke a license without a the right of the license holder to continue working until such an application to suspend had been heard by a magistrates court. However the other side of the coin is that some license holders probably need immediate suspensions. The knack is being intelligent enough to determine who is a danger to society and who is not? Obviously in this case brainless councillors were of the opinion that this lady was a danger to her passengers.

What do you think and if you were a councillor would you have reacted the same way?

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

I disagree.

I don't believe the "councillors were of the opinion that this lady was a danger to her passengers".

This is about power and control. If you give some, inadequate little shi*, an inordinate amount of power without making him/her accountable then don't think they won't use it.

Imagine GA, Captcab or Mr T with the same amount of power. Do you think the outcome would have been any different?

I doubt it . . . .

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

You're a dic*head

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

I didn't agree with the councillors, I agreed with your position. My comment mocked their decision, I was trying to highlight the fact that this woman presented no danger to passengers yet she was refused a license because councillors thought she did and that is the problem with letting councillors loose on taxi licensing.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

I know. I agree with your position on councillors and licensing. I just used the opportunity to attack the inadequate little shi*s on this forum.

GA, Captcab and Mr T being the epitome of the scumbags making decision in the above.

_________________
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

And youre a thug?

CC

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

Aye but an honest one . . . . .

_________________
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

I can honestly say that there is no mention of future or Pending court appearances in my LA renewal?Application form, they only ask if you have ever been convicted of any crime or offence.