Taxi Driver Online

Record number of prosecutions for rogue minicab drivers in London


Nearly 50 drivers have been convicted in the last six months alone as part of a crackdown by Transport for London, including those from west London

A total of 46 minicab drivers have been successfully prosecuted by TfL since the beginning of April this year

Drivers from Acton and Harrow are among a record number of rogues successfully prosecuted by Transport for London (TfL) this year.

In the last six months, 46 minicab drivers working across the capital have been convicted following action by TfL of various offences, including driving without insurance.

The rise in convictions - from 38 during the whole of 2014 - follows a crackdown by TfL, which doubled the size of its compliance team to 82 officers earlier this year.

Steve Burton, TfL's director of enforcement and on-street operations, said the increase was testament to its work to improve passenger safety and stop illegal cabbies undermining law-abiding drivers.

"We are using a broad range of tactics to deter, disrupt and apprehend drivers who are touting or illegally plying for hire and we will push for the toughest penalties available for anyone caught by our teams," he added.

Among the drivers successfully prosecuted by TfL since April are:

Sayed Mustafa, of Acton , who was caught in Clapham High Street, on November 22 last year, illegally plying for hire, illegally accepting private hire bookings and using a vehicle for private hire on a public road without the appropriate insurance.

He was found guilty of all three offences and at the City of London Magistrates' Court on September 2 was fined £1,200 and disqualified from driving for six months.

Kandasamy Rajendran, of Harrow , who was caught on February 12 this year in Uxbridge High Street opposite the nightclub Liquid & Envy, illegally plying for hire and accepting private hire bookings from the public without an operator's licence.

His car insurance was invalidated as a direct result of his illegal private hire activities and as such he was also charged with operating a private hire vehicle on a public road without appropriate insurance.

He was found guilty of all three offences and at Westminster Magistrates' Court on September 18 was fined £375 and got six points added to his driving licence.

In addition to the prosecutions by TfL during the last six months, the Met's cab enforcement unit arrested 267 drivers for touting and unlawful plying for hire offences over the same period. So far, 53 of them have been convicted and 80 cases are still pending.

source: http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/wes ... s-10454103

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

Have I got this right? last year there were 41 compliance officers and between them they managed 38 prosecutions in the whole year. Either there is no problem with compliance or the officers are useless.

_________________
Grandad,

In the last hour I have just sent of a FOI request as to how many have been prosecuted in Cardiff over the last 5 years! FA happens down here....do as you like at the moment, in fact do as you like full stop.

_________________
Common sense........is just not that Common.

Are you always this depressing?

_________________
Grandad,

Good luck.

Enforcement officers are in my experience split between effing useless and some very good, whats missing from these figures is how many Proprietors got nicked?

theres an outfit in Ruislip where the Proprietor drives ridiculous hours and so do his Drivers !

_________________
All posts by this contributor are made in a strictly personal capacity

I AM PROUD TO BE A CITIZEN NOBODY'S SUBJECT http://www.republic.org.u

F88K EM ALL WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE

When you are getting battered from all angles, culminating in having your work stolen........then you have to stand up and try to do something about it. As a P.H operator then I take it that you condone PH operating illegally.

We all know that it goes on, as such I do not have problem with it at busy times. However when PH have filled their boots from the office, and then they are blatantly in your face taking work when it is quiet for us, it is not on.

_________________
Common sense........is just not that Common.

I do not have any Private Hire vehicles now. They are all Hackney. I have never condoned PH acting illegally.

_________________
Grandad,

You have had PH on your fleet in the past some of us have always operated 100% Hackney fleets

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

In addition to the prosecutions by TfL during the last six months, the Met's cab enforcement unit arrested 267 drivers for touting and unlawful plying for hire offences over the same period. So far, 53 of them have been convicted and 80 cases are still pending.


What i would love to know is how large the mets' cab enforcement team is; it would be an interesting comparison of success rates vs numbers

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