Taxi Driver Online

Really?

Dumbarton convicted drug dealer is given temporary taxi licence

A Dumbarton man who told councillors he is still carrying out his punishment for a drug conviction last year has been handed a temporary licence to drive taxis in the area after a knife-edge vote.

West Dunbartonshire Council’s licensing committee heard that Christopher McKinley had been convicted at Dumbarton Sheriff Court in September of two charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act for supplying cannabis and being in possession of cocaine.

The committee heard that two months later, he was handed a community payback order as a punishment and ordered to carry out 220 hours of unpaid work by November of this year.

But despite hearing details from police of Mr McKinley’s conviction, and of the operation which recovered the drugs, the committee agreed to grant a six-week licence.

The committee was split over whether to approve Mr McKinley’s application – with SNP councillor Jim Finn, the committee’s chair, using his casting vote to grant the request.

A Police Scotland representative told the committee that on February 11, 2021, officers with a drugs warrant carried out a search of Mr McKinley’s property.

There they found £4,226.56 in cash in various locations, 74.46g of herbal cannabis, one knotted bag containing 0.9g of cocaine, two sets of scales with residue on them, and rolls of polythene bags.

The street value of the cannabis was said to be £500 and the cocaine was valued at between £30 and £40.

Mr McKinley apologised to the committee for his behaviour and told them he wanted a “second chance” – with the application for a taxi driver’s licence a step in that direction.

He told the April 27 meeting: “I’ve taken this seriously; I’ve totally changed my life. I’ve got a family that I need to feed. I’m a totally changed person. I’m sorry for what I have done but I’m just looking for a second chance.”

He also told the committee that he only had 65 hours of unpaid work remaining with more than half of the allotted time remaining to carry it out.

Councillor Finn moved a motion to grant Mr McKinley a temporary licence lasting for six weeks.

Cllr Finn told Mr McKinley: “You’ve been granted your licence. Behave yourself for six weeks and you could possibly get your full licence.”

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IDFIMH

Another case from that part of the world involving cocaine, but this is from 2018. Can't see any sign of the article on here, but here it is. Reason I came across it is explained below.


Glasgow taxi driver caught with cocaine loses licence

https://www.eastkilbrideconnect.co.uk/n ... s-licence/

A MAN caught with 31g of cocaine on his couch has had his taxi driver’s licence taken off him.

Edward McGlinchey appeared before the Licensing and Regulatory Committee to renew his black cab licence.

The 55-year-old said he took the blame for the Class A find in 2015 after police searched his house, despite claiming it was not his.

Most councillors on the committee were unhappy with his explanations to several concerns they raised and ended his 30-year taxi career.

Councillor Graham Campbell said: “This is about whether we can trust you. The more you have said the less you have convinced me. You need to convince us you have learned from this incident.”

In 2014, Mr McGlinchey’s house was searched when police obtained a warrant, and upon inspection they discovered a bag of cocaine.

Due to it being his property, he said he took the blame for the discovery, but insisted it was not his, but another person in the house.

Despite claiming he had a good case for being found not guilty, Mr McGlinchey decided not to go to trial because he had a holiday booked on the same date.

At one stage, Espeth Kerr questioned: “Is your livelihood not more important than a holiday?”

The Penilee man was fined £450 under the Misuse of Drugs Act at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Mr McGlinchey asked to be judged on his long unblemished service and not the incident, his first offence.

He said: “I’m not a bad person, I see no reason why you can’t continue to trust me.”

He was banned despite resistance from councillors Hanif Rajah and James Coleman.

Don't know if readers down south are aware, but there was an incident in Glasgow's Kenmure Street a couple of years ago when a mob surrounded a Home Office immigration enforcement van and sent it packing, basically, and this incident has entered modern Scottish political folklore.

Anyway, a similar incident took place in Edinburgh yesterday, and a Glasgow councillor tweeted this:



But the councillor who wrote that sat on Glasgow's licensing committee for three years, and is the Graham Campbell mentioned in the 2018 cocaine case above. Which, of course, surely raises questions with regard to his attitude to the law, etc?

It's interesting to compare his judgemental views on cocaine to his pro-cannabis stance. In fact, he's apparently the only one of the world's one million Rastafarians who doesn't smoke cannabis. Allegedly

He also had to repay a near-£5,000 mobile phone bill he'd claimed on expenses, and there were accusations of a breach of trust with regard to a charity payment he'd made to his wife, who's also an MP at Westminster.

Looks like he came off the licensing committee in 2020, obviously a couple of years before yesterday's elections, so not sure if that might have anything to do with the mobile phone claim and breach of trust stuff

Full article can be read via link below if anyone happens to be even remotely interested:


Glasgow SNP councillor Graham Campbell agrees to make repayment over £4,500 mobile phone bill

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/179 ... hone-bill/


Image: Glasgow Evening Times

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/179 ... hone-bill/

AN SNP councillor in Glasgow racked up nearly £5,000 in mobile phone costs after being hit with huge data roaming charges during a trip to the Gambia.

Councillor Campbell in the news again, for what it's worth.

Did think it strange when I read he'd claimed his bad attendance record at meetings was partly because the licensing committee meets three times per week

Thought he was maybe referring to sub-committees, or whatever. But turns out the maximum he was required to attend was twice a week, there were no diary clashes, and he missed 11 out of 18 meetings.


Glasgow SNP councillor blames 'meetings clashing' for poor attendance when no clashes existed.

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/201 ... es-existed


Image: Glasgow Times

An SNP councillor has claimed his “inadequate” attendance at council meetings was due to times clashing with other committees he sat on, despite no clashes existing.

Graham Campbell, councillor for Springburn/ Robroyston, was challenged about his attendance, at a hustings in the ward before he was re-elected last week.

Last year the Glasgow Times had reported on the attendance rates of all 85 councillors, for the year 2020.

Mr Campbell was one of the lowest with a rate of 50 %, attending 10 out of 20 meetings, 84th out of 85 councillors for attendance.

The report was part of a series where we revealed Tory councillor, Tony Curtis and Labour councillor, Jim Coleman were disqualified as councillors for non-attendance.

We also revealed how independent councillor, Russell Robertson, skipped a full council meeting for a midweek boozy break in Edinburgh with his partner.

And we revealed how Labour councillor, Hanif Raja, logged into one meeting remotely from Sri Lanka.

Mr Campbell was asked about this attendance by a questioner at the hustings, which was recorded and posted on social media and seen by the Glasgow Times.

In an attempt to explain, he said the article was “wrong” and then said he doesn’t get paid enough for all the committee work he is required to do.

Mr Campbell said at the hustings: “There was a sort of article about this, two years ago where an article in the Evening Times claimed my attendance record was inadequate. It’s not correct.

“First of all, for quite a large part of the first two years I was in office, the Licensing Committee, which meets three times a week, the one that’s most active, was clashing with the other committees I sat on.

“So, I would have to miss education or environment to attend. So, I gave my apologies to those, so my absence should not have been recorded as absences because I gave my apologies.

“So, they got that wrong. They didn’t take into account my attendance at SPT or the River Trust, all the other bodies I represent the council on, which is quite a lot.

“The committee work of the council is so vast, it nowhere near compensates for, the money you get paid.”

On investigation, his reasons contained a number of inaccuracies.

The Licensing Committee met a maximum of twice a week.

The Glasgow Times checked Mr Campbell’s committee membership and he was not on the licensing committee in 2020 and the committees he did sit on that year did not clash with one another.

For the early part of the term, 2017 to 2019, he was on the Licensing, Education and Environment committees.

However, again, meetings did not clash, and he was absent from several licensing committee meetings, which he claimed to be prioritising.

A snapshot of our record checking, from September 2017 to December 2017, found that councillor Campbell was not present for 11 licensing meetings out of 18: three out of five in September, four out of four in October, three out of six in November and one out of three in December. None of the meetings clashed with any other he was required at.

Sources said that council committee clerks endeavour to ensure there are no clashes.

Councillor Campbell did not respond to our specific question about meetings not clashing, instead, he said that the person who asked the question had come “especially from across town to noise me up”.

He said he reported the man to the police and that he had tried to “hijack the hustings” and other candidates and volunteers condemned his “hostile behaviour”.

He added the man was “thrown out” after filming Mr Campbell’s response and he said the man “left saying ‘I got what I came for’ presumably meaning what he needed to put online.”

Why do people campaign to become a councillor and then not bother turning up to meetings?

It's not as if it's a highly paid job.

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IDFIMH