Preston private hire drivers convicted of taxi offencesTwo Preston licensed private hire drivers were convicted of taxi offences in Preston Magistrates’ Court in December.
Naveed Akhtar of Carr Road, Nelson and Muhammad Waseem of Cemetery Road, Preston both pleaded guilty to offences of ‘plying for hire without a hackney carriage licence’ and using invalid vehicle insurance. Both were ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £528 and £488 respectively and both had their DVLA driving licences endorsed with 6 points.
In the early hours of Sunday 13 September 2015, council licensing officers were undertaking an enforcement operation to detect whether any unlicensed drivers were operating as hackney carriages in Preston city centre. Only Preston licensed hackney carriage drivers can be flagged down or approached at designated taxi ranks within Preston.
Licensed private hire drivers can only be hired through a licensed Operator and, on occasions, a small minority of private hire drivers are tempted to pick up passengers without an advanced booking – this is known as ‘flying’. Importantly these drivers only have vehicle insurance for pre-booked hires so anyone using a flyer that suffers an injury or worse following an accident in may not be able to claim compensation.
During the council sting operation, 24 private hire vehicles were either flagged down or approached by two council officers acting as potential customers who asked their drivers whether they were available for hire. Mr Akhtar, who was flagged down in his vehicle on Friargate, and Mr Waseem, who was parked on Lancaster Road, both accepted hires from the under- cover officers. Once the officers had agreed destination and fare arrangements and entered the vehicles, a third officer approached the vehicle and pointed out the offences to the drivers and cautioned them, informing that it would likely lead to legal proceedings.
Cabinet member for planning and regulation, Councillor John Swindells, said: “The City Council has a duty to ensure vehicles and the drivers it authorises to provide taxi and private hire services are safe to do so and act in accordance with their licence conditions and within the law.
“I don’t believe there is a major problem in Preston of private hire drivers picking up customers who hadn’t pre-booked, but it is important that enforcement operations are carried out from time to time. It is the council’s policy to prosecute ‘flyers’ and I’m pleased the drivers concerned pleaded guilty to these offences.”
source:
http://www.thebee.co.uk/news/local-news ... -offences/
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