Taxi Driver Online

13 Feb 2008

Private hire driver fined at Southport Magistrate's Court for taking hackney fares

A PRIVATE hire driver was fined £715 after being caught masquerading his
vehicle as a hackney carriage taxi and plying for hire.

The driver was also charged for not having insurance.

It is currently illegal for licensed private hire drivers to accept fares
without the customer pre-booking the vehicle.

He was caught after a test purchasing operation ran by officers from
Sefton’s Taxi Licensing Unit and Environmental Protection Department.

After pleading guilty at Southport Magistrates Court on January 31, the
driver was fined and also punished with a six penalty points on his taxi
driver’s license.

Source: icSeftonandWestLancs

Mr Manchester private hire will tell you that test purchases of this kind are nothing more than entrapment and to a certain extent he would be right however the basic difference in such test purchases and the law on entrapment is the fact that the driver in this particular case as is the case in almost every other type of illegal plying for hire incident, is that the driver was only given the opportunity to break the law, he wasn't enticed to break the law.

If any TDO subscriber is ever presented with the opportunity to take a fare that they shouldn't then I hope they will be ever mindful that they might be being set up for a fall.

Mr T, was the private hire company named?

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

Yep, It's just not worth it.
Void insurance, licence revoked, named and shamed in your local paper etc etc...

I guess greed gets the better of some people

I like the 'currently' bit.

Do they know something that we don't.

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IDFIMH

I don't actually know which company he worked for. and does it really matter, but I do know that shortly another private hire driver will be going before the bench , this will be his second time, and if rumour is right he will be going again after that....

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Yes it does because I'm sure all the other genuine private hire companies wouldn't want to be associated with this person.

Just my observation.



I guess its an occupational hazard because most private hire drivers don't believe they are breaking any laws and who can blame them? lol

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

There were 3 drivers caught on or around the same night, the one that has already been reported and another two, one got 6 points and a £650 fine while the other one also got 6 points and a fine. The last driver was convicted for a second time and has now lost his drivers license.

Illegal plying for hire is rife in Southport even more so when it's quiet.

When your hungry, the rules go out of the window.

Not saying that's right, but it's not unique to Southport.

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IDFIMH

A cabbie who was banned from driving said it could cause him and his sister to lose their home.

Magistrates suspended Michael Francis Hodge's driving licence for six months after he admitted picking up customers who had not booked in advance - something he was not licensed or insured to do.

Hodge had pleaded exceptional hardship, telling the court he and his sister, a part-time lecturer, would almost certainly lose the house they shared if his driving licence was revoked.

"I don't know anything else. I have just driven for seven years," he told the court on Thursday February 28 2008.

"In this day and age there wouldn't be anything out there for me. It is a rented house and if you miss rent they are on to you within two or three weeks."

But the bench did not accept his story, awarding him eight penalty points and disqualifying him for six months.

Hodge, 54, of Loxley Road, Southport, was a private hire driver for Kwik Cars when he was twice caught breaching his licence by Sefton Council officers.

For Sefton, Sue Cain told the court how on August 11 and December 1 2007, Hodge picked up undercover council officers on Lord Street, Southport and drove them to their destination.

It is an offence for private hire drivers to ply for trade on the street. Only hackney cabs are allowed to do this.

On investigation, officers found Kwik Cars had no record of either of the journeys and Hodge was not insured for public hire.

He had a previous conviction for the same offence from July 2006.

Sefton Council revoked Hodge's private hire taxi licence on Tuesday February 5 2008.

Defending, Michael Braham told magistrates that on the second occasion, in December, bad weather had caused Hodge's taxi data screen, that gives job details, to break and he genuinely believed the council officers to be his next booked fare.

Southport magistrates fined Hodge £600 for the two offences and ordered him to pay prosecution costs of £529.33 to Sefton Council

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Tell them to come down to Manchester they can pick up there with impunity and the council will also go that extra mile by providing them with their own taxi rank.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.