A lot of cutting and pasting required for this one, and not sure if I've missed anything out. But lost interest trying to work it all out, and didn't really finish reading it.
But I'd guess it's not particularly accurate in terms of licensing technicalities and suchlike, and that, for example, the touting allegations were in fact about plying for hire.
But from the stuff I actually read it's not particularly clear whether or not there was any actual wrongdoing in terms of licensing, and whether one driver just got the wrong end of the stick. One driver seems to have been out-of-area at the time, but not clear if that was illegitimately so.
But the court case is really more about the altercation and criminal damage.
Northfleet taxi driver smashed fellow cabbie’s windows after row over touting for fares outside Muggleton Inn Wetherspoon in Maidstonehttps://www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend/ ... ma-300382/A taxi driver smashed another cabbie’s window in a turf war feud over touting for fares outside a Wetherspoon pub.Magistrates heard Rashpal Channa used some sort of implement to smash the glass in fellow taxi driver Sayed Ahmadi's London-style black cab after an expletive-laden rant.
A war of words had erupted between the pair over Channa working in Maidstone during the early hours of New Year's Day 2022.
A court heard Channa, who has a licence to pick up fares in the Tonbridge and Malling areas in his white Vauxhall Insignia cab, had pulled up outside the Muggleton Inn Wetherspoon pub, near the taxi rank in the High Street, at about 4.30am.
However, magistrates in Margate were told when fellow cabbie Mr Ahmadi, who is licenced to pick up fares in the county town by Maidstone council unlike Channa, spotted him working on his patch he decided to confront him.
Christina Rowberry, prosecuting, told the court Mr Ahmadi performed a U-turn in his vehicle to speak with Channa, before trying to leave the area to take his passengers home.
The prosecutor added: “He (Mr Ahmadi) had picked up a fare outside the NatWest bank and he had seen the defendant’s vehicle before and stopped and spoke to him as he doesn’t cover the Maidstone area and he was touting for fares.
“But the defendant blocks his path (with his car) and there was some toing and froing and Mr Ahmadi then pulls away.
“The defendant is then following him, but not at high speed and then is able to pull up alongside him and he has something in his hand and he holds his hand up through his window and uses it to smash the nearside passenger window.
“He then drove off towards Ashford Road and Mr Ahmadi then reported it to two PCs in the town who tell him to report it to the force control room.”
Mr Ahmadi did report the matter to police and Channa, 44, was later arrested. When quizzed by police over the matter, he made no comment.
Channa, of Symoure Road, Northfleet, near Gravesend, was later charged with criminal damage which he denied when he when he first appeared before the courts in September 2022.
His trial was heard at Margate Magistrates' Court on January 16, but it was started without him as he didn’t arrive at the court in time and magistrates’ were told he had some health problems which had delayed him.
Magistrates had decided to hear the evidence in his absence and Ms Rowberry showed the bench some CCTV footage of the vehicles in Maidstone High Street, where the “toing and froing” took place and called Mr Ahmadi to give evidence.
During his time on the stand, Mr Ahmadi told magistrates it had been a busy shift and there had been plenty of fares in the town.
He said his window had shattered instantly when hit, but luckily the glass didn't injure the sleepy passengers in the back although one did comment to him it certainly woke him up.
Mr Ahmadi also told the court he had been working as a taxi driver in the area since around 2010 and when he noticed Channa working on his patch – without licence to do so – he had approached him.
He added: “He started swearing and shouting and called me a mother f***** and I got frustrated as well and shouted back, but I gave up to do my fare to take these gentlemen home safely and I pulled away, but he was at this point he got in front of me and he kept breaking to intimidate me. He kept doing that a few times.
“A friend of mine at the taxi rank got out of his car and shouted at him (to stop) and I pulled away past him and he went away and I could drive freely.”
However, Mr Ahmadi then said as he drove towards the direction of Gravesend, he thought Channa had caught up with him again and was following him.
The court heard he thought he may be heading towards the riverside town as he believed Channa lived in that area.
He explained he took a different direction, but stopped at traffic lights near the PureGym and as he waited for the lights to turn green, Channa pulled up alongside him and put his hand out of his window with something in his hand and smashed the window.
Mr Ahmadi added: “He pulled off and zoomed away, it upset me and I had two young lads in the back of my cab and they had nothing to do with the argument.”
He also said he’d had to pay £100 excess on his insurance policy to get the window repaired and as a result his insurance premium went up to £1,500 when he next renewed.
Mr Ahmadi also told the court he had emailed Tonbridge and Malling council to report Channa was working off his patch that night and had smashed his window.
Magistrates said Mr Ahmadi had given reliable and credible evidence and alongside the CCTV footage and a statement from a police officer and the fact that Channa was not there to give his input, they found him guilty of the offence.
It was at this point Channa arrived at the court in Cecil Square and was told his sentencing was being adjourned until June 5, when he will hear his fate at the same venue.
He was granted bail until then.
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