Taxi Driver Online

Well this one's slightly different.

So it was the overcharging complaint that led to the plying for hire charge...

Of course, being PHV presumably there was in actual fact no overcharging going on.

But maybe if he'd charged a more sensible fare he'd have gotten away with the plying for hire


Salford City Council secure conviction against private hire driver

https://www.salford.gov.uk/your-council ... re-driver/

• Salford licensed private hire driver pleads guilty for the offence of illegally plying for hire relating to July 2023 offence
• Ordered to pay £400 in fines, £1,200 in costs and a victim surcharge of £160
• Salford City Council regards criminal offences committed by licensees whilst working as taxi and private hire drivers as extremely serious, particularly the offence of illegally plying for hire

A Salford licensed private hire driver, Mr Arif Mohammad, has pleaded guilty at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court following a complaint from a member of the public, which Salford City Council Licensing Service investigated.

The complainant reported that Mr Mohammad had overcharged her for a private hire journey having attended a concert at Bolton Stadium. Following the event, the complainant had approached Mr Mohammad’s private hire vehicle and asked if he could take her and three other people to a hotel. Mr Mohammad agreed to the journey without there being a booking in place with a private hire operator. The law requires that all private hire journeys are booked through a private hire operator. Failure to do so can result in the driver’s motor insurance being invalid.



When interviewed in respect of the suspected offence, Mr Arif Mohammad admitted offering the journey without a booking through a private hire operator, describing it as a "big mistake", stating he was "very sorry".

Salford City Council is responsible for regulating taxi and private hire drivers licensed with the authority. Criminal offences committed by licensees whilst working as taxi and private hire drivers are regarded as extremely serious, particularly the offence of illegally plying for hire. The offence can lead to a licence being suspended or revoked or an application to renew the licence being refused.

Mr Arif Mohammad has been ordered to pay £400 in fines, £1,200 in costs and a victim surcharge of £160. The offence related to a breach of:

• The Town and Police Clauses Act 1847

With its commitment to building a fairer, greener, healthier and more inclusive city for all, Salford City Council Licensing Service will continue to work with licensees to support safe and high quality taxi and private hire services, taking enforcement action where necessary.

Councillor Barbara Bentham, Salford City Council's Lead Member for Neighbourhoods, Environment and Community Safety said: “Taxi and private hire services are an important part of the transport network, and we thank all of our licensees that operate to a safe and high standard. Drivers have a duty to operate in accordance with the law and the conditions of their licence and the authority will not hesitate to take enforcement action where necessary. As a reminder, a private hire vehicle must always be booked through a licensed operator.”

Interesting that the Salford PHV door sticker is included in the official press release, as above.

So the complainant would have known she was getting into an uninsured motor?

But she then complains about the fare?

My reading of the article is the punter never got into the vehicle, they just got the hump with the quote and reported the driver for that.

If that was the case then the driver should have got proper legal advice, and maybe an unscrupulous driver would have said he was just suggesting what it might cost should the customer have booked through an operator.

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IDFIMH

Sussex, well if they did prosecute him without the trip taking place then they must be pretty gung ho about it all, even compared to the likes of South Oxfordshire and the Henley Regatta.

And while I'm no expert on court evidence and procedures, I'd have thought there might be evidential difficulties without the trip actually taking place, unless there was some other quite hard evidence?

Anyway, you could be right, and it doesn't literally say anywhere that the trip did in fact happen.

On the other hand, it's more or less repeated twice that: "Mr Mohammad agreed to the journey without there being a booking in place with a private hire operator."

Which of course lends support to the view that the run might not have actually happened. It doesn't say there that it did. On the other hand, I'd guess that the intention of the statement above is to convey the law rather than the facts, which is maybe why it sounds like it's missing the point of what actually happened a bit.

However, the reason I assume the trip had happened was the following - it's literally saying she was overcharged, as opposed to the driver attempting to overcharge her :

"The complainant reported that Mr Mohammad had overcharged her for a private hire journey having attended a concert at Bolton Stadium."

Of course, it's possible the sentence above is literally incorrect, and that it was merely an attempt to overcharge, and the run never actually happened...

not so sure about that because any flag fare must be on the meter or charged below meter rate. The fact that it's a PH is irrelevant surely.

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

I suspect their best evidence was the driver's own words, as well maybe a recording or photo taken at the time.

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IDFIMH

I can't my head around someone complaining about an overcharge, which they knew about prior to traveling. Surely most people would just tell the driver to f*** off.

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IDFIMH

I've got such a good memory and attention to detail that a month after posting this I've just remembered that no-one mentioned the fact that the car was out-of-area when caught plying for hire, but was then prosecuted by his own authority

Seriously, though, at the time I'd just assumed that it was maybe some quirk that meant the Bolton stadium was actually in Salford.

But it wasn't

So presumably local authorities can prosecute either cars licensed by other authorities plying for hire, and their own cars plying for hire in other local authority areas?

Yep, I didn't add one and one to get two. The reason I forgot about this thread was on the new one I was just interested in the issue you mentioned above.

Once I read it I texted someone whose job is to enforce taxi and PH licensing laws, and I was told that he wouldn't do it. Now the reason for the two-year delay might be a lot of legal to'ings and throwing, but I'm still not comfortable about this.

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IDFIMH