Taxi Driver Online

Leicester Mercury

November 21, 2007 Wednesday

Taxi driver is fined after he refused to put cab meter on

A taxi-driver asked for money "up front" from passengers and refused to put his cab meter on, a court was told.

Abdiwali Omar (41), of Hobart Street, off Maidstone Road, Leicester, was convicted by city magistrates after pleading not guilty to neglecting to drive a hackney carriage.

He was fined £100 and ordered to pay £300 towards Leicester City Council's £1,226 prosecution costs.

Katherine Jamieson, for the council, said the offence was committed on January 28 this year when Omar was at the front of a queue of cabs waiting to pick up passengers in Gravel Street outside St Margaret's bus station.

She said: "When three men asked him to take them to Mountsorrel, he checked a book, started his engine and said 'That will be £18, in advance'."

He said when one of the men asked for it to go on the meter, Omar refused and the passengers got out of the cab.

When they were asked by a group of other cabbies what the trouble was, one of the men told them Omar had refused to use the meter.

Ms Jamieson said: "It is up to a person hiring a cab to take the option of negotiating a fare."

The three found another cab and the eventual fare home was less than £15.

The council investigated when it was brought to its attention.

Omar told the court the men had been drunk. He said he asked for a deposit but they became racially abusive.

He denied refusing to put on the meter or asking for £18.

Rachel Derry, the council's licensing enforcement officer, said refusing to use a meter was contrary to the conditions and terms in a hackney cab driver's licence.
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Mountsorrel is in Charnwood Borough, Gravel Street is in the City of Leicester. Does that not mean that the driver can negotiate any fare that he wishes?

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Grandad,

I don't know whether the area is in or out of the prescribed distance? If he had a list which the case seems to indicate that he did then it would appear the area is out. On the other hand he wasn't prosecuted for not putting on his meter he was prosecuted for refusing to drive, which he is quite in order to refuse if the journey is out of the area.

If it is out of the area then obviously he didn't have the right legal representation, or advice.

If he is reading this then he should consider an appeal.

Regards

JD

Maybe they are like our clown hall in Sheffield, in that it's part of the byelaws to set the meter in action for every hiring regardless of destination (in or out of city boundary) or agreed fare. Even when a fare is negotiated, you can charge any amount as long as it's no more than fare showing on the meter.

Well best your LOs go back to licensing school and learn how to do their jobs within the law as it is, not as they may wish it was.

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IDFIMH

That particular issue has been discussed before and JD's analysis of the situation suggested probably best to leave things as they are.