Taxi Driver Online

Cabbie who accidentally knocked down an off-duty policewoman keeps job

https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/170 ... keeps-job/

A cabby who accidently knocked down an off-duty policewoman has been allowed to keep his job.

Javed Lal hit the cop as she was walking over a pedestrian crossing on Maryhill Road and failed to share his contact details with the victim or any witnesses.

The policewoman’s colleagues were able to track him after a member of the public pictured his registration number.

Mr Lal was fined £160 and was given five penalty points on his licence after the victim suffered soft-tissue damage.

And yesterday he was hauled in front of Glasgow’s licensing committee to explain his actions.

He said: “At the time I got out my car, helped the lady and asked her if she was ok. She said she was absolutely fine and told me to go.

“At the time I thought nothing really happened, but the police came to my door the next day.

“I then told them exactly what happened. It turned out the woman was a police officer.

“This was the first time anything like this has happened and it will be the last.

“Everybody makes mistakes.”

Committee members were told that Mr Lal had been arrested over his failure to leave his contact details following the incident in October 2015.

When asked about how the incident unfolded, Mr Lal said the policewoman had been walking through busy traffic and initially claimed that she had walked into the side of his car.

But licensing committee member Robert Connelly told the cabby to start taking responsibility for his actions.

He said: “You said that you didn’t feel like anything had really happened. Something clearly did happen.

“I don’t like the phrasing that you used there because it feels like you’re trying to blame the person who was hit by the car.”

Committee chairman Alex Wilson told Mr Lal that he “should have contacted the police” for his “own good”.

He said that if the policewoman’s injuries had turned out to be more severe then Mr Lal could have been in more trouble.

Gary Gray added that the cabby had been “very unfortunate” to knock down a policewoman but said the collision was “serious”.

The committee agreed to renew Mr Lal’s private hire cab driver’s licence for three years on the condition that he undergoes a medical exam after June next year.

The cabby was also issued with a warning regarding his future conduct at work.

Would be interesting to hear the police officer's version of events, because assuming the driver is telling the truth he seems a bit hard done by here being prosecuted and having to appear in front of the committee, but at least he kept his badge.

Incidentally, the newspaper's headline uses the term 'policewoman', which I don't think is allowed these days (like you have to say 'firefighter' rather than 'fireman'), so I've changed it accordingly in the title of the thread. Very shabby and slipshod journalism

Is there any other kind

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

It would have been a bit harsh to revoke his license.

However I hope he has learnt a lesson, i.e. next time make sure it isn't a copper.

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IDFIMH

Off duty copper eh?? Some of them are never off duty.