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A taxi driver fell asleep
2007-10-29 17:07:00 AN UNLICENCED taxi driver who fell asleep at the wheel when he was taking a family to the airport has been banned from the road for one year. Graham Brown, 11b Trenowaths Place, Lynn, admitted knowingly acting as a driver of a private hire car without a current driver's licence. Brown took a family of four adults and two children, aged six and four, to Gatwick, while working for Haz Autos in June, the court heard. En route to the airport, he stopped to buy and down two cans of energy drink Redbull, but nodded off on the M11 and only awoke when one of the passengers shouted his name. Horrified passengers then took over the wheel for the remainder of the trip, while Brown snoozed, magistrates were told. Brown told the court that he used to drive taxis as a fill in between engineering contracts, but left his private hire licensed lapse. Then, in March 2006, he suffered a back injury in a road accident, which prevented him from working and he had no income for 15-16 months, he sai...
By: Chauffeurs Blog
Road ban set to be lifted for private hire taxis
2007-10-07 10:43:00 CARDIFF council is about to allow private hire taxis back onto St Mary Street in a major U-turn. Minicab drivers were told at a meeting with council officers last week that they could be given same rights as black-and-white hackney cabs to use bus lanes. Councillors on the public protection committee have already discussed the issue and its chairman, Coun Bob Smith, said he believed the change would happen. Coun Smith, the Conservative councillor for Llanishen, said: “It is true that it’s going to happen. It will hopefully be ratified in November. “If they want the St Mary Street closure to work, they are going to have to do something to allow private hire cars into the area.” The council confirmed the issue was being considered but said there were regulatory issues to be resolved. Currently only black-and-white hackney cabs are allowed to use Cardiff bus lanes and the St Mary Street traffic trial has forced private hire drivers to take longer routes and char...
By: Chauffeurs Blog
Illegal poaching pushing us out of town, say taxi drivers
2007-06-06 15:46:00 READING private hire drivers say they are being put out of business by poaching out-of-town rivals. And they accuse Reading Borough Council of being soft on operators licensed by South Oxfordshire and Wokingham councils who have been working illegally in the town for years. Manzoor Hussain, 49, who owns Yellow Cars in London Road said: "Our drivers are being pushed out of town with the recent influx of out-of-borough drivers.We are losing our livelihood." And Bashir Ahmed, 48, chairman of the Reading Private Hire Association, said: "Our private hire drivers and black cab drivers feel they are losing business because of other drivers touting in the area. "This is unfair and we would like our local authority to look into this issue." A Hackney carriage can ply for hire in the street or at a rank but private hire vehicles must always be pre-booked. Reading borough said it is working on the problem with licensing teams from neighbouring authorities...
By: Chauffeurs Blog
Safety group opposes tuk-tuks in Blackpool
2007-05-30 15:56:00 Robin Brown Tuk-tuks may pose a safety risk to passengers and pedestrians, according to a group that campaigns for the safe use of taxis. The tuk-tuks – motorised rickshaws popular in the Far East – have been granted private hire licenses in Blackpool, a move opposed by Taxiwise. “You have to ask, where does the novelty value end and safety concerns start?” said Celeste Clarke, national spokesperson for Taxiwise, which campaigns for higher standards among vehicles used as cabs and to stamp out bogus drivers. “These tuk-tuks might be different but are they really safe enough to be carrying paying passengers? “We want to see safety standards maintained across the whole of the UK as well as rules on the type of vehicle that can be used as a taxi so people can immediately identify a genuine cab from one that is not. Blackpool has licensed 20 tuk-tuks for use in Blackpool. They cannot be flagged down but need to be booked in advance....
By: Chauffeurs Blog
Council clampdown on rogue private hire drivers
2007-05-03 13:51:00 Council and police clamp down on private hire taxi drivers who avoid motoring offences by giving false details. The council’s licensing service is working with the police to clamp down on private hire drivers who try to avoid motor offences such as speeding or driving through a red traffic light by giving false details. The police send the owner of any vehicle spotted breaking the law a form (Notice of Intended Prosecution) requiring the name and address of the driver at the time of the offence. Many licensed private hire drivers are submitting false details, leading to them being charged by the police for perverting the course of justice and a referral to the Council’s taxi and private hire licensing panel who then consider whether the driver is an appropriate person to continue to hold a licence. Twenty-two cases are being investigated and the council has already refused to renew the private hire licence for three drivers. A council spokesperson said...
By: Chauffeurs Blog
Bad driving by private hire drivers
2007-04-17 10:13:00 By Readers' Letter IN reply to the letter from D Dowsell published in Wednesday's The Bolton News. He may well be an excellent driver, but in my experience some private hire drivers consistently flout the law and ignore the Highway Code. They change direction without indication, jump amber and red lights, and exceed the speed limit. In the past two weeks, I have witnessed three examples by private hire drivers - a minibus in Rishton Lane where the driver was using a mobile phone, a cab performing a U-turn at traffic lights at the Trinity Street and Blackhorse Street junction and, while driving in Green Lane a few nights ago, a private hire car passing me on the wrong side of the road doing at least 40mph. Incidentally, this car had one headlight on full beam and the other light not working - another offence. In future, I shall follow D Dowsell's advice and report any driving offences by private hire cars to the appropriate authorities. Mr S O'Hara, Crompt...
By: Chauffeurs Blog
We want black cabs and private hire cars to compete on a level playing fiel
2007-04-13 09:15:00 BRIAN FERGUSON IF Iain Whyte is looking forward to a new era of consensus politics in Edinburgh and the prospect of entering into any kind of coalition he is hiding it well. The leader of the Conservative group on the city council has nothing less than contempt for the new electoral system the voters of Edinburgh will use to elect their new representatives next month. He is scathing about the prospect of Labour retaining its grip on the city as part of a possible power-sharing agreement with the Liberal Democrats. And he is adamant his party has done the right thing by promising never to enter into a coalition with Labour's leader, Ewan Aitken, even though such a pledge has been branded "naive and foolish" by political opponents. He says: "Most of our voters just could not imagine us doing any kind of deal with Labour, it is as simple as that. I imagine it is much the same for the Labour Party. "I felt it was very important that, unlike the Li...
By: Chauffeurs Blog
Taxi driver hits out at private hire firms
2007-03-29 12:15:00 An Aylesbury taxi driver says he is close to losing his house because private hire vehicles are illegally stealing his business. Liaqat Ali, of Paterson Road, drives a hackney carriage for Five Twos Taxis, which can be flagged down by the public and park on taxi ranks. But he claims that some private hire vehicles, which can only be booked in advance, are unlawfully using the ranks and picking people up off the street, stealing trade. He said: "These people are openly asking people if they want a taxi and that is against the law. They are pinching our business. As far as people are concerned they see the plate on the back of the car and they think it's a taxi." The difference between a hackney carriage and a private hire vehicle may seem academic, but Peter Seal, licensing officer at Aylesbury Vale District Council, warned: "Taking a journey in a private hire car without pre-booking would invalidate the insurance. This would effectively leave customers and t...
By: Chauffeurs Blog
New signs for private hire cars
2007-03-02 16:15:06 Torridge District Council is introducing compulsory new signs for the district's fleet of licensed private hire cars to improve public safety. Until now private hire vehicles have only been required to display the standard licence plate on the rear of the vehicle, together with a smaller plate inside. The new oval-shaped signs will be fixed to the front doors of the vehicles and display the words "Private hire vehicle - advance bookings only." Smaller signs with the same wording will also be displayed in both front and rear windscreens. Tony Nicholls, the council's licensing manager, said: "The council has introduced the new signs for a number of reasons. The main purpose of the signs is to protect the public by making private hire vehicles more readily identifiable. This will make it much harder for rogue drivers to masquerade as licensed hire cars. If a vehicle does not display the signs or a licence plate, it means it is not licensed by the council and...
By: Chauffeurs Blog
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