Plymouth taxi boss banned from driving for 12 offences
Thursday, May 23, 2013
THE owner of a taxi firm will pay over £6,500 and has been banned from driving for six months after pleading guilty to 12 driving charges.
James Owen, aged 53, from South View Terrace, St Judes runs Door Airport Door, an airport taxi service.
Plymouth Door Airport Door taxi boss James Owen banned from driving for 12 offences
Owen faced 12 charges - four relating to using a car as a private hire vehicle without a private hire vehicle licence.
Four charges related to two drivers not having the correct licences to drive private hire vehicles and the final four charges related to driving a private hire vehicle without the correct insurance.
The court heard that between October 16 and November 26 last year Owen hired cars from Vospers which were not covered for use as private hire vehicles and were driven by drivers without the correct licence.
In information provided by Owen to Plymouth City Council, prosecuting, there were names of two drivers who did not have private hire vehicle licences.
When asked about one of these drivers in interview, Mr Owen said that it was him driving with a different name so he could get honest feedback from customers.
However council investigators noticed there were times when it couldn't have been Owen driving as he was on other jobs.
Owen accepted that he had taken on a driver without the correct licence but said: "There was a day that I was having trouble and couldn't get hold of anyone else.
"I used him and due to the excellent report I got back about his driving I used him again."
Representing himself in court, Owen said he followed changes in council requirements – when he started the business in 1994, Vospers vehicles were correctly licensed.
He said: "Vospers is a regulated, licensed company – I always thought their vehicles were covered.
"They are also used by Plymouth City Council themselves and I thought they were licensed."
In terms of the two drivers not having the correct licenses, he said one had left the company and then returned – but Owen did not know the driver hadn't renewed his private hire licence.
He said in terms of the vehicles being correctly insured, he was told he could use his own private hire vehicle insurance on the Vospers' vehicles.
When he found out this was not the case he said: "I couldn't believe the vehicles were not covered.
"I stand here and I take the responsibility of my actions, but I firmly believe what I was doing was correct.
"I have spent 18 years in the Army and 18 years running this business – the only other time I have been on the wrong side of the law was a speeding fine."
The Chair of the Magistrates Bench said they took into consideration Owen's early guilty plea, his cooperation with the council and his previous good character.
Owen received a fine of £330 for each of the first six offences, making a total of £1,980.
He was fined a total of £1000 for two charges relating to employing a driver who he knew was unlicensed.
Finally, on the four insurance related charges, he was fined £500 each, making a total of £2000.
He was also given six penalty points for each of the last four charges and was disqualified from driving for six months.
Owen was also ordered to pay costs of £1509.34 along with a £50 victim surcharge, making a total of £6539.34.
http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymout ... story.html
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