Police want dozens of cabs run by a private hire firm which does regular NHS work taken off the roads as part of an ongoing campaign to link the company with organised crime.
Objections have been lodged by Strathclyde Police against today’s bid by Glasgow-based Network Private Hire to secure licences for another 44 cabs from the city council.
The Herald understands all the 200-plus licences for Network-owned cars could be challenged in the coming months, with the police free to submit complaints about existing licences at any stage.
It is also understood the police will not veer far from the objections that prevented the company, based in the Springburn area of the city, securing a licence under a new regime introduced to squeeze organised criminals out of the taxi trade. Network is appealing that decision.
The company has routinely said it is being victimised by the police because of former associates of the business when it was under different ownership.
The move comes as it emerges Network has secured a 25% increase in the amount of work it gets from the NHS this summer.
Network, which is one of the biggest private-hire firms in Scotland, already has £2 million worth of work taking patients to and from Glasgow hospitals, a contract that led to an unprecedented intervention by Strathclyde Chief Constable Stephen House and later police statements that they were disappointed by the NHS decision.
Operators of black taxis withdrew their services to the NHS in protest at the Network contract, leading to health bosses increasing the private-hire firm’s share of the work.
Since July the company has been carrying out more than 10,000 journeys a month for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, up from the previous tally of 8000 trips.
In April, Strathclyde Police successfully argued that a convicted criminal who was a shareholder until last July was continuing to profit from the company.
They said James Baxter, 49, was still receiving £5000 a week from the firm as a result of being bought out and read details of an incident in which Baxter and an accomplice forced their way into a nightclub where a steward was then shot by the second man.
Baxter is understood to no longer work for Network, however the police are expected to argue that he may still be profiting from the business.
Despite refusing Network its licence in April, the council has since given it additional business ferrying children to school.
A Network spokesman said: “There is no evidence nor has there ever been that Network are involved with, have or have had links to organised crime in the five years that the current owners have been in charge.
“We have stated before and will state again that as a responsible stakeholder in the community we are keen to work with the police and any other concerned agency to provide a safe, secure, efficient and honest service to the people of greater Glasgow.”
Ross Blyth, an ex-council official now working as Network’s business manager, said the firm was able to carry out the NHS contract at half the cost of the previous operator. He also stressed that money from the contract was going to Network’s drivers, most of whom are self-employed.
He said: “The previous contractor was either overcharging or doing unnecessary trips. Everybody assumes that the money goes to Network. We don’t get a penny of it. The £2m the health board spends goes to the drivers.”
Meanwhile, Strathclyde Police will today also object to a firm and individual vehicles connected to Harry Dow, who walked free from court in July after prosecutors were forced to drop a case against him for an alleged attack on a notorious conman.
Mr Dow is seeking licences for three cars and is associated with east end-based Online Cars, which is seeking an operator’s permit. The police said they could not comment on the objections ahead of today’s meeting.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/crim ... -1.1052317
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