A few more cases from Bolton. Don't know if drivers there are particularly bad, or if just reported more in press, or wot. Suspect a bit of both.
Private hire driver who threatened wife with knife has licence revokedA PRIVATE hire driver who admitted to threatening his wife with a knife has had his licence revoked. The man appeared before Bolton Council's Licensing Committee after previously being charged and found guilty in court of two counts of criminal damage, two counts of beating, a threat to kill and actual bodily harm relating to an incident that occurred in July 2018.
He had received a two-year suspended sentence and 200 hours of community work for the offences and had also been the subject of 14 private hire complaints between September 19, 2017 and October 14, 2018.
The man admitted to the committee that the offences related to actions towards his wife, including revealing that he threatened her with a knife.
Police officers at the time considered the incident to be serious enough to remove the driver from the house where the offences occurred.
Committee members spoke of their concern that the driver would be working alone with passengers in an unsupervised setting and judged him to not be a "fit and proper person" to hold a licence.
His wife accompanied him to the hearing and admitted signing a police statement relating to the offences but later tried to retract her statements and said she exaggerated the situation.
However, the driver pleaded guilty to all of the charges and had even admitted to his actions during a police interview.
The committee concluded: "Passengers often travel alone and are vulnerable to inappropriate behaviour. The Sub-Committee’s primary duty is of concern for the safety and well-being of the public.
"There is therefore reasonable cause to revoke the private hire driver’s licence with immediate effect on the grounds of public safety, due to concerns of the violent nature of the offences and the use of a weapon."
The hearing, held in October 2018 was conducting by the Sub-Committee on Sensitive Cases and was not held in public, meaning the name of the driver cannot be revealed, however minutes from the hearing have since been made available.
Private hire driver who 'used his knees to steer' has licence revokedhttps://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/17 ... e-revoked/A DRIVER who “used his knees to steer” a private hire vehicle while carrying two primary school pupils has lost his licence. He was not watching the road for most of the journey because he was too busy trying to sort out his e-cigarette, the Bolton’s licensing committee heard.
A primary school staff member who was with the two pupils told the council they were frightened by his poor driving, which led councillors to revoke his licence.
She said the vehicle was constantly veering onto the other side of the road and he had to slam the brakes on at roundabouts.
The driver denied driving with his knees and claimed he did not remember the customers, but councillors were told he had an accident in his vehicle which was his fault two months after the complaint was made.
He joins several other private hire drivers who have had their licences revoked at hearings held by councillors in the past few months following complaints, convictions and other concerns.
These hearings are held behind closed doors, which is why the drivers are not named, but some details appear on the council’s website after a decision is made.
Another driver, who had not paid his road tax, was given more than 500 jobs by his operator despite having his vehicle suspended months previously.
He was issued a vehicle suspension notice after failing to attend a mid-year test in October 2017, but by the following February he completed 413 jobs that had been allocated to him.
His private hire vehicle licence was revoked because he had breached the conditions of his licences.
The committee also said he “clearly has a disregard for licensing regimes”.
At the same meeting in December, a driver was refused a private hire vehicle licence because the committee was concerned about the applicant’s speeding record.
He had three speeding convictions resulting in nine penalty points all in the space of 13 months.
At another meeting on January 8, a licence was revoked after a driver was convicted for picking up customers illegally.
He was plying for hire without a hackney carriage proprietor’s licence in a vehicle which was uninsured against third party risks.
Two unbooked passengers got into his vehicle and were charged £15, but when he was stopped by the police, he told them that the passengers were friends.
His licence was revoked because of the nature of his conviction which he failed to declare the offence to the council.
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