Taxi Driver Online

Plymouth private-hire driver is suspended for seven days for smoking in her cab


A private-hire driver has been warned to stop blaming other people for her problems.

Wendy Dunn, who works for Silverline, had her private hire licence suspended for seven days by Plymouth City Council’s taxi licensing committee.

Mrs Dunn was hauled before the committee yesterday after a string of offences last year.

She was twice caught smoking in her private-hire car, and licensing officer noticed a large amount of ash on the floor of the car.

She was given a warning the first time, and a fixed penalty notice for the second offence.

She failed to pay the penalty and the case eventually went to the magistrates’ court, where she was fined £100 and ordered to pay costs.

In the past 12 months, Mrs Dunn has received three vehicle prohibition notices for defective tyres.

In March and April last year licensing officers found that one of her tyres had a screw in it.

In October police found that her car had a worn tyre. The tread was only 0.5mm deep, instead of the legal minimum of 1.6mm.

Earlier, in 2008, she had escaped disqualification after operating as taxi driver in Cornwall without a private hire licence or insurance. She was fined £700 plus costs, but escaped disqualification after she pleaded exceptional hardship.

Mrs Dunn, who now drives an eight-seater vehicle, told the licensing committee yesterday that she rented her cars from the taxi operator she worked for at the time.

She said the car with the bald tyre had been through an MoT examination ten days before and she had assumed it would be all right.

But she told councillors on the committee that she had now given up smoking and now does a school run as well as carrying disabled adults.

As well as the seven-day suspension, Mrs Dunn was ordered to take an NVQ qualification in the next 12 months. She has 21 days if she wants to appeal against the decision.

Cllr Edward Delbridge, the committee chairman, urged Mrs Dunn to read the conditions of her licence.

“We don’t want to see you again,” he said. “Things could be worse for you next time.”

source: http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/

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

there, that's better

_________________
My heart is heavy, but my consience clear,
I voted Yes, without any fear.

Just to clarify - she was not operating as a Taxi in Cornwall in the previous hearing quoted in the article - she was caught, twice on the same night, in a sting operation in Plymouth. As the investigating Officer was a Plymouth Magistrate, her case had to be heard at another Magistrates Court. It happened to be heard at Bodmin, which happens to be in Cornwall.

I was at the Committee hearing (both) and the story has not been covered in full by any means. I can best summarize by saying that some personal information about her circumstances was not covered. The investigating Officers report is available here.

http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/mgInternet/d ... 20Dunn.pdf

Might just clarify the picture, but her persnal circumstances are not covered.

_________________
Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

Do any of her personal circumstances change the fact that she was caught out with a screw in the same place TWICE and a tyre that was under the legal limit in the same place? Do any of her personal circumstances change the fact that she was caught smoking in the vehicle TWICE?

_________________
Grandad,

Screw in her tyre and smoking,she should be sent down !

So presumably it was the same screw then?

If so then I wonder what happened between the two prohibition notices, nearly a month apart.

Or if it wasn't the same screw then she's been damned unlucky in that regard.

I mean, which taxi driver hasn't been driving around with a nail or screw in their tyre that they didn't know about?

Apparently she rented the car from the PH company so was it a case of they were not playing ball by changing the tyre I noticed the comment though about the large quantities of ash in the car so presumably not only does she smoke in the car she doesn't know how to use a hoover

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

But what happened between the issue of the two prohibition notices?

Why wasn't anyone done for using the car after the issuing of the original prohibition notice?

The only things I can think of are that the council didn't do something they should have after the original notice was issued, so no one could be done for it.

Or the prohibition notice was legitimately lifted and the driver was exceptionally unlucky to have two screws (it's usually a nail!) in the same tyre within a month of each other.

Or perhaps the wheel was swapped from another car to lift the prohibition notice, but the council couldn't prove subsequently that it was the same screw in the same tyre.



Lovely.

It was presumed that the screws and tyres were different screws and different tyres even though she actually stated that she had "borrowed" a wheel from another driver after the first incident to have the vehicle suspension lifted.

I do not in any way intend to stand up for this driver - but in 10 years I have five screws or similar in my tyres - four were in the rear nearside. I am told that due to road cambers, most foreign object damage occurs to nearside tyres.

Blaming everyone around her lost her some sympathy, but her parting comment included a bereavement in the family.

She was disgruntled to find that suspension of licence would impact on her school contract - she thought that despite being suspended, that would not be included.

_________________
Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

Indeed. And no doubt we've all had them. I'd always assumed that things like screws and other foreign bodies will tend to acculated in the verges and at the edge of the tarmac, thus the nearside wheels are more likely to come into contact with them. I think that's also why the nearside tyres tend to wear more quickly.


Yes, and I don't think the precise circumstances surrounding her blame-shifting came out too well in either the article or the official document.




But thanks for the clarification, Chris. Yet another example which illustrates that newspaper articles and official reports on such matters rarely tell the full story.

The Draft Minutes will be available in about 10 days time and may clear things a bit more - or there are my notes taken at the time if not.

_________________
Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related