A taxi driver asked to use a customer's toilet in her house before forcing his way into her bedroom and raping her.
WalesOnline reports that he later denied the sexual attack but his DNA was found on some carpet.
Jakir Hussain, 39, picked up his victim in Cardiff city centre on November 19 last year and drove her back to her home as a paid fare.
At the end of the journey, he got into the back of the taxi and locked the doors until she agreed to let him use the toilet in her home.
Despite her protestations, Hussain then made his way into her bedroom and pushed her over the bed before bending her double and pushing her face into the mattress so she struggled to breathe.
He removed some of her clothing and then raped her without using protection.
A sentencing hearing at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard the defendant's DNA was discovered that linked him to the scene.
Hussain, a married father, was traced by CCTV and arrested but he denied any sexual activity took place. He later changed his story, and claimed everything which had taken place was consensual but he was found guilty of rape following a trial in November.
Reading out a statement to the court, the victim said she was no longer able to remain in her home, due to it being the scene of the rape and causing flashbacks.
She said the trauma of being raped had led her to attempting to take her own life.
She said: "Since this incident I have tried to avoid sleep because I am taken back to the night of the incident.
"Since the incident I have not felt able to get into a taxi, I have a complete distrust of all taxi drivers and even impacts me to the extent if female friends go on a night out I will offer to drive them home in the middle of the night.
"I no longer consider taxis to be safe. I put my trust in what I thought was a professional to take me safely home that night. This has impacted me in all aspects of my life and I'm more likely to distrust other professionals who may be trying to help me."
In mitigation, Hussain, of Grangetown, was said to be of previous good character and had lived in the UK for eight years. He is due to become a father for the third time, and financially support his family in the UK and overseas.
Sentencing, Recorder Eugene Egan said: "(The victim) was entitled, as a bare minimum, to be taken safely to the street where she lived by you and to be treated respectfully by you.... You were in a position of trust towards her, a position of trust you grossly abused...
"You asked her to use the toilet as a ruse to gain access to her house, you gained entry by guile. No taxi driver should ever be asking to use the toilet of a female fare passenger. You just wanted to get into her house."
Hussaun was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment, and will at least two thirds of the sentence before he is released.
He was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and sex offender notification requirements for life.
He was also made subject to a restraining order and barred from working as a taxi driver indefinitely.
Source: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/taxi-driver-asked-use-customers-27124373
A couple from Cornwall have complained to Bristol City Council after they were sent four fines for breaching the Clean Air Zone that should have been sent to a taxi driver instead.
BrsitolLive repors that Ben and Anna Ashmore say they keep being ‘hassled’ by the council, demanding hundreds of pounds in fines for driving in the city - even though they live on a rural farm almost 200 miles away in deepest Cornwall.
Bristol’s Clean Air Zone cameras and the automated number plate recognition technology is failing them - because it has clocked a taxi with an almost identical number plate and wrongly thought it is their car.
Dr Ashmore, a GP in the Duchy, said they have appealed the charge and hope to have the fines cancelled.
The couple own a grey VW diesel with a number plate that ends in the letter ‘S’, but each of the four fines they have been sent by the council includes a picture of a different car - a black taxi with the same number plate apart from the letter ‘J’ at the end.
The Ashmore’s VW is liable to pay the Clean Air Zone charges in Birmingham and Bristol - but they haven’t driven there since those schemes were introduced.
The black taxi is liable to pay CAZ and ULEZ charges in every city in England that has introduced them, including Bath and Bristol.
Four times in recent months, the taxi driver has gone into Bristol and not paid the charge, and a fine has been sent to Cornwall by mistake because the camera and computer technology has misread the number plate.
“Each time it is the same cabbie,” said Dr Ashmore, who has submitted a formal complaint to the council as well as an appeal against each of the fines.
“Please look into and stop further notices being issued, and confirm we do not need to lodge representations each time,” his appeal told the council.
“This is time consuming, and we will be forced to take this to the information commissioner, you are holding our details without valid legal reason, and will consider a small court claim for our time and expense defending these claims,” he added.
Dr Ashmore is not the first to be fined for someone else driving into Bristol’s Clean Air Zone. A couple in Sussex keep getting fines because the tiny plastic cover over a bolt on the registration plate of a car being driven around Bristol means the cameras think the letter ‘C’ on the registration plate is a G.
In that case, their complaints went right to the top of the council's officers at City Hall, who promised it will never happen again - only for it to happen again four times last month.
Source: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/couple-cornwall-wrongly-fined-four-8527136#
An Oldham private hire driver who was caught with a sex worker in his car has been sentenced after a video of the incident went viral online.
According to The Oldham Times, Mohammed Jamal, 37, from Shaw, appeared at Tameside Magistrates' Court on Wednesday 7 June, after pleading guilty to soliciting another for the purpose of obtaining their sexual services as a prostitute in a street/public place.
The 37-year-old was caught on camera with an adult woman in a PHV in the early hours of Sunday, April 9 on Thames Street in Rochdale.
A witness was alerted by his dog barking and became aware of his Jamal's vehicle parked at the rear of his property at around 2am.
"Its movements were described as bouncing up and down," Gareth Hughes, prosecuting said. "He believed the people in the car were having sex. He believed it was a prostitute involved as they do hang out in the local area.
"He says he has approached the vehicle and has recorded part of the incident," Mr Hughes continued. "The video was then passed on to police."
Officers traced and spoke to Jamal and the woman, the court was told. Jamal denied any wrongdoing in his police interview. The woman 'confirmed she was a sex worker and had been picked up by the defendant', Mr Hughes said.
Jamal told magistrates: "After the incident, I lost my job as a private hire driver and I have not worked for two months." He said he had now signed up to receive Universal Credit.
In a post on social media at the time, Uber said: "We are currently investigating and are ready to work with the police with any investigation."
Jamal was fined £80; ordered to pay £85 costs; and a £32 victim surcharge.
When Jamal, who was supported in court by a woman, was asked how he could pay he said: "I will get my partner to pay on her credit card."
Source: https://www.theoldhamtimes.co.uk/news/23573692.oldham-taxi-driver-caught-sex-worker-car-sentenced/
A private hire driver who was jailed for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl previously had a licence revoked.
According to the Daily Echo, Bournemouth Borough Council removed Mahdi Ferhane’s driver licence in late 2017.
Ferhane applied for a driver licence with New Forest District Council (NDFC) in December 2021.
He was granted this licence to operate as a private hire operater carrying out pre-booked trips only.
Last month Ferhane was found guilty of sexually assaulting a girl who had got into his vehicle in Bournemouth town centre and asked to be taken home.
In a statement issued to the Daily Echo, a NFDC spokesperson said: “Mr Ferhane applied for a driver licence with New Forest District Council in December 2021 but did not disclose that he had previously held a driver licence with Bournemouth nor that this licence has been revoked by Bournemouth Council in November 2017.
“The licensing service were notified of an alleged incident involving the taxi driver in June 2022 and based on the circumstances, the council took action resulting in the immediate revocation of his driver licence.”
During his trial, it was heard he picked up a 17-year-old girl in Old Christchurch Road in the early hours of the morning without a booking.
Judge William Mousley KC said the 38-year-old father-of-two “took advantage” of the “vulnerable” girl on May 29 last year.
The court heard once the teenager was in his vehicle, Ferhane drove to a clifftop car park and insisted that she drive the car.
The defendant took the complainant to an address he owned in St Peter’s Road.
Inside the property he took off her dress and massaged her shoulder before pushing her face down onto a mattress and touching her with his penis.
After the incident, the defendant drove the teen home and charged her £12 for the trip.
Ferhane was jailed for 28 months at a hearing on June 2.
The NFDC spokesperson said enhanced DBS checks are carried out on all new and renewal driver licence applications to identify previous convictions and nothing was disclosed in Ferhane’s case.
They added: “The council also has had a taxi and private hire vehicle refusal and revocations Register in place since 1 April 2022 to record, share and check other licensing authority records when new applications are received from drivers or from those seeking to renew applications.”
Cllr Kieron Wilson, BCP Council’s regulatory services portfolio holder, said: “Any new applications or renewals for licences made to BCP Council are subject to enhanced DBS checks. Drivers also must to sign up to the online DBS update service, which is checked every six months for any change of circumstance.
“All drivers operating in the BCP area need to declare all convictions and cautions as a condition of their licence. National guidance is followed for medical checks.
“We are part of the Local Government Authority National Register of Taxi Licence Refusals and Revocations, which is checked when a new application comes in, so we can pick up refusals and revocations in other licensing authorities.
“We are committed to making sure that everyone in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole feels safe, and continue to review incidents to determine if any learning from them can reinforce the measures we have in place.”
Source: https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23577075.sex-assault-taxi-driver-previously-licence-revoked/
Following a campaign of lobbying from GMB union rep, Ali Haydor, Southampton City Council licensing committee has agreed to change its vehicle livery policy for private hire vehicles.
The result of this will mean that drivers will not need to display a company logo on their vehicles, freeing them up to represent more than one taxi firm and no longer provide free advertising for a company when the drivers themselves are providing their own vehicle.
Ali Haydor, GMB private hire representative said: “GMB union welcomes the decision by Southampton licensing committee as our members have been waiting for this change for a long time.
“Let’s be clear though – this policy change is wholly down to the hard work of GMB and our national network of well-trained representatives.
“GMB is a champion for any worker suffering from any kind of restrictive working practice and as such this is a big win for the union but more importantly for our members.
“An unfair policy is a bad policy and GMB, as a campaigning union, will always fight to have these overturned, as we have done with Uber up to the highest courts in the land.
“To any other local authority who continues to enforce such unfair practices – if you don’t follow suit and remove this sort of red tape, GMB will be coming for you next.”
UPDATED PRIVATE HIRE DRIVERS LICENCE POLICY AND CONDIONS - see point 8: https://www.southampton.gov.uk/media/1pold4co/20230614-private-hire-driver-conditons.pdf
8. ADHERENCE TO BOOKING:
8.1 The driver of a private hire vehicle which has been hired to be in attendance at any appropriate time and place shall, unless delayed and prevented by some sufficient cause, punctually attend at the appointed time and place.
8.2 Once a hiring has been accepted the driver shall complete that hiring unless there is good cause not to. Any hiring that has been accepted but is not completed by the driver must be reported with the reasons to the operator immediately.
8.3 If the vehicle being used by the driver is advertising an operator then the driver can only accept bookings from the advertised operator.
GMB Taxi & Private Hire Drivers Union
GMB Southern Region
Artur Nowostawski has been jailed for six years and nine months after he attacked a taxi driver earlier this year.
Taxi drivers in the city are facing significant financial losses after a series of electric vehicle charging point failures left them unable to operate.
Police are appealing for help to trace a man who disappeared after getting into a taxi bound for the Otley area of Leeds.
The company’s operator licence includes a condition ordering all drivers to undergo the same training as those from other companies.
Police have stopped a private hire driver who was driving the wrong way on the M1 close to Junction 8 at Hemel Hempstead.
Newcastle City Council is set to introduce strict new measures to tackle illegal and inconsiderate parking near Newcastle International Airport.
West Mercia Police is appealing for information following a rape that took place in Malvern's Priory Park early on Sunday, August 4th.
Glasgow taxi users could be facing a near-10% fare increase and extended night-time charges.
At least 14 cars have been damaged since June, with drivers suffering financial loss and emotional distress.
The attack happened at around 12.45pm on Etruria Vale Road, Stoke, when the victim, driving a Toyota Avensis, was punched in the face by one of the men.
Cumberland Council has taken decisive action to protect public safety by revoking the licence of a taxi driver charged last week with a serious racially aggravated offence.
A historic bridge has been closed indefinitely after an Uber car became wedged on Saturday morning.
A local councillor has sparked a debate on passenger safety after claiming that using locally licensed taxis is safer than hailing an Uber.
A taxi driver was attacked and subjected to racist abuse after two brothers refused to pay him up front.
Christopher Hilling, 64, admitted to engaging a child in sexual activity at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday 8 August.
Abdigani Ebrahim, 38, of Grangetown, admitted charges of affray and criminal damage following the incident in Northcote Street, Roath, last July.
The crackdown targeted drivers operating across council boundaries to ensure public safety and compliance with regulations.
Lucio Valentino relies on his six-year-old Border Collie, Pixel, to help manage his mental health conditions, including depression and personality disorders.
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.