A Newcastle cabbie has been found in possession of a 'nasty' knife which was disguised as a credit card.
ChronicleLive reports that Kellesh Miah was pulled over on Newcastle's Central Motorway on September 21 last year in an unrelated matter. But when officers searched the 32-year-old, a "locking credit card knife" was found in his wallet.
In interview, Miah told police he used the knife for cutting open boxes in a previous job working at a takeaway. He later apologised for having the implement in his wallet when he was taken to Forth Banks police station.
Miah, from Benwell, appeared at Newcastle Magistrates' Court facing a charge of possession of a knife in a public place.
He pleaded guilty to the offence, with District Judge Kate Meek calling the knife a "nasty little implement".
Bushra Begum, prosecuting, said that Miah was travelling along the A167 when police pulled him over for an unrelated matter. She said: "The defendant was stopped in a car with two other men on the Central Motorway.
"He was searched and a credit card [was found] which transpired to be a lock knife in his wallet.
"The defendant made some comments to the officers, stating he had never seen it before, but then said he knew he shouldn't have had it and was sorry."
The court heard that Miah had previous offences against him for drug possession, dating back to 2012.
Greg Stephens, defending, said Miah was a taxi driver at the time of the offence and that he previously worked in a takeaway.
He said: "The knife was used to open boxes when he used to work at a takeaway. It had been in his wallet for a long time."
Miah was fined £461 and ordered to complete 30 rehabilitation days.
Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/benwell-taxi-driver-found-nasty-27987285
A taxi driver was assaulted by a man wearing a facemask during an attempted robbery in North Lanarkshire.
STV News reports that police were called to Cumbernauld’s Blackthorn Road, at around 12.30am on Sunday 29 October, after the driver was assaulted while being parked in at a bus stop.
The man attacked the driver after demanding he hand over money.
Officers have described the assailant as wearing a blue or black jacket and a disposable face mask. He was carrying a white carrier bag.
Detective sergeant Karen Murray said: “While the taxi driver was not seriously injured he was left extremely shaken by this incident.
“Our enquiries are ongoing and we are keen to trace this man.
“I would ask anyone who was in the area around this time and recognises this description of the man, or perhaps has relevant dash-cam footage which could assist us, to get in touch.”
Anyone with any information is asked to contact 101 quoting incident 0192 of Sunday, October 29.
A pair of Oldham cabbies tried to avoid prosecution for traffic offences by giving 'fictitious' details as part of a driving scam.
The Oldham Times reports that Ashiq Parvez claimed that on October 11 2022, another person was test driving his taxi when the car failed to comply with red/green arrow/lane closure signals on the M62.
The 49-year-old said he saw the camera flash and subsequently took the details of the person driving his taxi.
However, the camera did not flash and it later transpired Parvez had a pre-booked fare from Manchester Airport 30 minutes after the camera was activated and this would have been his journey to the airport.
Mohammed Rangzaib also tried to trick prosecutors into thinking he was not the driver of his vehicle that was caught speeding on Oldham Road on February 12 last year.
The 56-year-old claimed he had returned the Notice of Intended Prosecution to the central ticket office a few days after receiving it through the post, adding that the one the ticket office had in their possession was not the same one he posted on March 15.
The Notice of Intended Prosecution farm he used at the time of receipt of his notice had 133 fictitious or misleading nominations.
Such 'farms' supply fake driver details to police to help motorists avoid prosecution for traffic offences.
A check on all mail received within the central ticket office for 16, 17 and 18 March 2022, covering three full days following when Rangzaib stated he had returned his admission, had no returned notice from him.
Rangzaib was handed a £450 fine, £85 costs and £45 victim surcharge along with six penalty points on his driving licence.
Parvez was given a £288 fine as well as £85 in costs, a £115 victim surcharge and six penalty points on his driving licence.
Anyone with information about NIP farm scams, including those running them or drivers utilising them, can contact Greater Manchester Police online.
Alternatively, the independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 08800 555 111.
Source: https://www.theoldhamtimes.co.uk/news/23889291.oldham-taxi-drivers-fined-using-fictitious-details/
As MailOnline continues its investigation into bankrupt Birmingham City Council’s school taxi bills, questions continue to be raised over the £116m spending black hole.
Council records show the values for all 163 four-year school transport contracts are exactly £64,938.27, around £10.5million in total (plus £1.5m for recently published contracts), around ten times less than the £128m the council paid out from 2020 to July this year, according to MailOnline analysis of invoices data.
The £64,938.27 figure was just low enough to avoid publishing transparency data, raising renewed questions over awarding millions of pounds of school transport contracts to Green Destinations Ltd (GDL) - owned by Jameel Malik - which charged more than £200 a day to take a child three miles to school and back.
This comes as opposition Tories at the troubled Labour-run council renewed calls for an investigation and the publication of internal audits, after education director Sue Harrison promised the committee their release on 25 October.
Conservative deputy leader Ewan Mackey said MailOnline raised ‘very serious questions’, adding: “Labour should publish the audit reports in full, as well as answer the discrepancies highlighted”.
The council has since added that a comprehensive spend report is being produced. But more than a week later, these reports have still not been released.
The council has previously refused FoI requests from MailOnline for the investigation report, saying the ‘information was given in confidence’. The Information Commissioner is now deciding if the audits should be released.
From April 2020 to July this year, invoices data suggests the council paid all school taxi firms a total of £128million - nearly £12m in 2020, £27m in 2021, £52.3m in 2022 and £36.9m this year until July.
In total, Green Destinations Ltd has invoiced the council £41.8m in three and a half years - £1.1m in 2020, £6m in 2021, £18m in 2022 and £16.5m to July this year.
When asked by audit scrutiny committee chairman, Labour’s Cllr Fred Grindrod, to explain why all 163 school contracts were the same value, procurement head Mike Smith said ‘for the purposes of our transparency requirements’ he effectively took the total estimated cost and divided it by 163 to get an average contract value.
Tory Cllr Meirion Jenkins blasted the explanation, telling Mr Smith: “In terms of understanding the point of the transparency, an averaging across the whole thing is pretty meaningless.”
Referencing the MailOnline investigation into GDL, Cllr Jenkins asked internal audit boss Sarah Dunlavey: “Does £200 a day to take a child three miles a day to school seem like a reasonable taxi fare?”
“It hasn’t been considered to be fraudulent, no,” she replied.
Cllr Jenkins also asked her for any investigations into the service to be made available to the audit committee. Ms Dunlavey replied: “We have been in and looked at accusations against various providers and concluded that, as far as we can tell there was no systematic or deliberate overcharging.”
Labour Cllr Karen McCarthy, cabinet member for Children, told the committee: “Care for our most profoundly needy children is expensive, whether it’s transport or care in a variety of settings.”
Cllr Jenkins responded: “No one has let me as a member of audit committee get sight of that report. And in fact nobody has really said why it costs £200 a day."
Cllr Mackey told MailOnline that it has raised very serious questions which deserve thorough investi-gation and a transparent response.
“This is particularly so given the history of this service in Birmingham where we already know there have been previous breaches of procurement rules, failings in contract management and incorrect and misleading information pro-vided to opposition councillors and the public by the Labour cabinet.
"These errors have not only cost significant sums of public money, but also put children at risk,” he said.
Cllr Mackey added: “Labour in Birmingham have promoted a culture of sweeping problems under the carpet and should publish the audit reports in full, along with any other investigation, as well as answering the discrepancies highlighted by MailOnline, so that there can be full public confidence that this matter is being treated seriously and all appropriate action being taken.”
MailOnline has raised questions about seemingly inaccurate information being told to the audit committee with its chair Cllr Grindrod. He has not responded.
Licensing chiefs have thrown out two bids for taxi licences after hearing the applicants had criminal records.
According to the Blackpool Gazette, members of Blackpool Council’s public protection sub-committee heard one applicant had been involved in the supply of Class A drugs, while another had past convictions for wounding and criminal damage.
Both applicants had also committed motoring offences in the past.
Minutes of the meeting, which was held behind closed doors at the town hall with details of applicants not disclosed, say in both instances councillors refused the application.
Ryan Ratcliffe, licensing enforcement officer at the council, told the sub-committee checks had revealed the first applicant before them had a conviction from December 2008 for several separate offences concerning the supply of Class A drugs.
They had also received six penalty points on their licence as a result of a speeding offence in March 2022.
The minutes say the applicant, who was present before the sub-committee “admitted being involved with the wrong crowd at the time” but had since “cut all ties to the people associated with the historic drug-related offences.”
However documents add: “The sub-committee placed some relevance of the historic drug offences and decided that combined with the recent speeding offences I.U.L (the applicant) had displayed a pattern of behaviour not conducive with someone who would be deemed a fit and proper person to hold such a licence and decided to refuse the application.”
Checks on the second application before the sub-committee revealed four convictions dating from September 2006 to June 2017, for wounding (2006), criminal damage (2016), failing to surrender to custody (2017) and driving a motor vehicle with excess alcohol (2017).
There were also two traffic offences from June 2021, exceeding the speed limit on a motorway and January 2023, exceeding the limit on a public road.
The minutes reveal the applicant “admitted full responsibility for these offences explaining that they had been drinking the night prior to being caught driving”.
However councillors ruled “the convictions and offences including those for serious motoring offences were not demonstrative of the behaviours expected of professional licensed drivers.”
As a result the members of the sub-committee decided to refuse the application for the licence.
Taxi drivers across the Fylde Coast are set to receive a briefing note aimed at clearing up confusion over out-of-area private hire vehicles.
Police are appealing to find a taxi driver who may have "vital clues" about the murder of Ryan Passey seven years ago since he was fatally stabbed in a Stourbridge nightclub.
A joint operation by Hull City Council, Wolverhampton Council, and Humberside Police has uncovered a number of safety issues with taxis operating in the city.
French taxi drivers are calling for government compensation after suffering significant revenue losses during the Paris Olympics.
Coventry city centre has introduced a new taxi marshal service aimed at improving safety and efficiency for late-night revellers.
A court heard harrowing details of the moment a drink-driving uninsured motorist killed three people in a 90mph crash.
The Taxi Charity for Military Veterans was amongst the thousands who enjoyed the Battle Proms at Highclere Castle on 3 August.
Swindon residents could be facing a hike in taxi fares from October after councillors gave the green light to a £1 increase in the standard fare minimum charge.
Ricky Harold, a 20-year veteran of the town’s taxi trade, was parked in a lay-by when his vehicle was struck from behind by a black Audi A2.
Chinese automotive giant Geely has deepened its commitment to the UK electric vehicle market with a £120m cash injection into London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC).
North Tyneside Council is facing a backlash over plans to increase taxi fares by 6.3%.
Nazim Asmal preyed on his victims after nights out in Preston and Darwen, driving them to secluded spots before carrying out horrific sexual assaults.
Newcastle is set to see a surge in pink taxis driven by women as part of a new initiative aimed at improving passenger safety.
An unlicensed taxi driver who picked up two vulnerable women in Aberdare has been ordered to pay nearly £1,500 in fines and costs.
Cleethorpes taxi drivers are breathing a sigh of relief after council enforcement officers cracked down on vehicles illegally parked in designated taxi ranks.
A Barry man has avoided jail after launching a drunken attack on a taxi driver who refused him entry to his vehicle.
Jersey’s taxi service is in crisis, with driver numbers plummeting by more than a quarter since 2014, a new report has revealed.
On Wednesday 27 July, more than 300 vulnerable youngsters were taken on an all-expenses paid trip to Southport.
Taxi drivers in the town will be able to charge passengers more following a decision by the borough council on 31 July.
A taxi driver has been sentenced to a community order after admitting causing the death of a pedestrian by driving at excessive speed.