Private hire driver suspended for leaving "inappropriate" message on customer's voicemailhttp://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/164 ... voicemail/A TAXI driver has been suspended after leaving an “inappropriate” message on a customer’s voicemail.
Bolton Council’s licensing committee voted to remove his private hire licence for eight weeks after listening to the message and hearing evidence from the licensing officer, complainant and driver.
The complainant, who answered questions from committee members, said she had been offended by the message, which was also heard by her children.
The driver admitted he had left the answerphone message, but claimed his vehicle was “being damaged by children throwing stones” at the time he rang, and the latter part was not directed at her.
He added that he believed he had ended call at the time he was making the remarks.
The committee was unable to decide whether this claim was true or not, but found the driver had already “acted inappropriately” towards the complainant by threatening to have her number banned.
Members also noted that he had shown “no remorse” in this respect.
And they found that, by failing to “behave in an orderly manner and conduct himself with civility and propriety” he had breached the authority’s statement of fitness and suitability for drivers.
It came against the background of two previous complaints of inappropriate behaviour dating back to 2014, which came before the committee in 2015.
A motion for the driver’s licence to be suspended for three months was defeated after only three members of the committee back it.
But the committee then unanimously voted for the licence to be removed for eight weeks on the basis that members were “not satisfied that the driver is a fit and proper person to hold a licence at this time.”
They found that there was “reasonable cause to suspend the private hire driver’s licence as a warning and a deterrent”.
At the same meeting the committee also voted not to renew a separate driver’s private hire licence,.
Private hire vehicles must be booked in advance, but the committee heard the driver had been convicted of “plying for hire” following a prosecution brought by Manchester City Council.
He had also using been a vehicle that was not insured against third-party risk.
The committee did not find his denial of plying for hire to be credible, and also heard he had twice failed to declare his conviction when applying to renew his licence.
Members were “most concerned about the driver’s honesty” and felt he was trying to deceive the committee.
The driver will not be able to reapply for a private hire licence for two years.
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