Taxi Driver Online

Revocation a bit OTT for this, in my opinion

Anyway, anyone ever noticed that the abbreviation for this council in its web address - scambs - can be split to read Scam BS?

The quoted councillor certainly sounds like a bit of a BSer


Taxi driver loses licence for inappropriate behaviour

https://www.scambs.gov.uk/taxi-driver-l ... behaviour/

A taxi driver has lost his licence for inappropriate behaviour towards a lone female passenger he was transporting from Cambridge to Ely.

42-year-old Tariq Mehmood from Rampton Drift, Longstanton, first appeared before South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee in December 2021, after being referred by a Licensing Officer.

This came after the Council received a complaint from a member of the public who had been travelling on their own with Mr Mehmood in his private hire vehicle during a late-night journey from Cambridge to Ely in October 2021.

The complainant said that, as soon as the journey started, Mehmood started making comments about how “gorgeous” she was, questioned her relationship status, and when she revealed she had a boyfriend, told her to leave him and he would look after her. He also asked her to get into the front passenger seat next to him several times.

The passenger felt so vulnerable during the journey that when Mehmood insisted on getting her phone number, she gave it to him. He then called her and told her to save his number. Because of this, and his other behaviour, the passenger recorded some audio during part of the journey. When this audio was played back, Mehmood could be heard saying that she had broken his heart when she wouldn’t get into the front seat.

Mehmood attended a Council interview but denied all the allegations, including the comment he was recorded making. When the audio was played back to him, he said he couldn’t remember saying it.

His private hire licence was immediately revoked on the grounds of public safety and the South Cambridgeshire District Council Taxi Licensing Appeals Panel refused his appeal at a hearing in December 2021.

Mr Mehmood then appealed to the Magistrate’s Court, where a hearing took place on 19 May 2022. The Court decided that on the balance of probabilities he was not a fit and proper person, and the appeal was dismissed. The court awarded the Council £800 in costs.

Cllr Brian Milnes, Lead Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Licensing and South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “This highly disappointing tale is in no-way representative of our local taxi trade where journeys are completed safely and professionally with rare exception. The South Cambridgeshire taxi trade overall has an excellent reputation.

“However, as residents quite rightly expect, we take our taxi licensing responsibilities incredibly seriously and so do not hesitate to intervene when need arises. Holding a taxi licence is a privilege and means the public are putting their trust, and safety, in our drivers. In this case, the Court said that the driver did not take his safeguarding responsibilities seriously and his behaviour clearly fell well short of what is expected of a licensed driver. If you are in a taxi on your own, we would always recommend that you sit behind the driver. It’s also good practice to be aware of details of the vehicle and driver, such as the driver’s badge number, vehicle plate number, colour, make and model, as well as the journey date, time, and locations. If you think you may need to make a complaint and it is safe to do so, make a video or audio recording as this will help with any investigation.”

Residents can report an issue with a licensed taxi driver, vehicle or operator.

Makes it sound like a round-the-world trip, not maybe a two-minute cab trip

And as regards a lone passenger sitting directly behind the driver, who does that? Actually makes me feel a bit uneasy, in the very rare event of it happening.

But, of course, a lone passenger will either get in the front, or in the nearside rear door, in which case they won't be behind the driver, and would need to shift across the seat to get directly behind the driver. Not sure if I can ever recall that happening, and if a lone passenger does sit behind me it's usually in the rare event that the get in from the driver's side, for whatever reason.

But I suspect the councillor could simply mean that a lone passenger should get in the back rather than the front, but literally speaking they're saying that they should sit directly behind the driver

So how far would you say drivers can go before it's over the top ?

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

I think on balance the council and the court got it right.

Clearly we have all seen a lot worse reported on here, but from a council's point of view, they really didn't have much option other than doing what they did.

_________________
IDFIMH

Well obviously the driver's conduct was over the top, but I think the council was a bit over the top in revoking him.

Of course, you may be right in that you allude that the fact he didn't 'fess up' to it maybe swayed the council's decision. If he'd just acknowledged that he did wrong then things may have turned out differently.

(And apart from a small part of the conversation that was recorded, there doesn't seem to be any independent evidence regarding most of the incident.)

And I suspect many other local authorities would have just slapped his wrist, or maybe given him a Bolton-style one month suspension, or whatever.

And I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg as regards incidents like this, but most are never reported, or just dealt with less formally.

But I wonder if he had history? You'd guess guys like him would be trying it on quite a lot rather than just a a one-off incident.