More than half the taxis and private hire vehicles licensed by Hyndburn Borough Council failed in spot check safety tests.
According to the Lancashire Telegraph, police and Hyndburn council officers conducted the operation on Wednesday April 26.
The random, high scrutiny checks involved 17 vehicles licensed to carry fare-paying passengers.
Of the 13 certified by Hyndburn council seven were found to have faults and five were suspended from operation until the defects were rectified.
The faults included a variety of safety issues, including headlight bulbs not working, side lights not working, and number plate lights not working.
The multi-agency safety spot-checks on licensed vehicles operating within the borough of Hyndburn by specialist police officers and the council’s Vehicle Maintenance Unit will continue to be carried out without prior warning as part of the initiative to maintain high standards and improve safety.
Cllr Sajid Mahmood, Hyndburn council's licensing boss, said: “These safety checks are carried out in addition to the regular checks that are carried out every four months to most licensed vehicles (dependent on age), ensuring that the council’s high standards for vehicle safety are always met.
"I would like to thank all the agencies involved in providing these essential checks that help make Hyndburn a safer place to live in.”
Cycling Mikey's latest video shows a London taxi driver telling him he will "end up needing the dentist" after he challenged the professional driver's mobile phone use behind the wheel.
road.cc reports that the cab driver was reported to the Metropolitan Police by the road safety campaigner and YouTuber, real name Mike van Erp, but avoided police prosecution due to staff dealing with an IT system change, with Mikey saying they had been left understaffed and the report ran out of time.
Filmed in Hyde Park in July of last year, the footage shows the taxi driver moving forward while holding a mobile device in his hand for several metres before Mikey asks: "What's that you're holding in your left hand?"
"Mate, I'm doing two miles an hour, I'm not in a very good mood, I suggest you just jog on," the cabbie replied. "I'm really not very happy. You can film me all you like, mate, but you're going to end up needing the dentist, now piss off."
In response to being told the footage will be going to the police, the taxi driver replied: "You can do what you like."
Sharing the video on YouTube to his 94,000 subscribers, Mikey said the driver is "supposedly professional" but "you don't seem like London's Finest to me with your phone use and rude and unprofessional threatening behaviour. I suggest you pull your socks up."
And while he reported that the Metropolitan Police had begun prosecuting, they apparently ran out of time, Mikey suggesting that "the Allegations Team at Marlowe House were coping with an IT system change and were understaffed and overworked".
After sharing the video on social media, TfL's Taxi & Private Hire department replied thanking the cyclist for the report, adding that it has been "passed on for investigation".
"He did at least get to feel the pain of the initial prosecution process, and probably would have been worried about the consequences and possible loss of his green badge for the entire six months," Mikey said.
CyclingMikey has reported thousands of law-breaking drivers over the years, with 800 successful prosecutions in the last five years and 383 reports last year.
He attracted attention for particularly high-profile cases, such as catching Guy Ritchie and Chris Eubank, the film director being banned from driving for six months as a result, while the retired boxer was given three penalty points and told to pay £280 in fines, court costs and fees.
In January, speaking to road.cc, Mikey said "people need to see justice being done" and any abuse he receives is simply because some motorists "feel they have the right to drive how they want".
"In the beginning of my camera work, almost 17 years ago, I took a lot of strain at the abuse thrown my way," he said. "I'd answer each comment seriously. Nowadays, there has been such a torrent of abuse and lies about me that I just let most of it wash off me.
"In the UK cyclists are considered by society to be 'cockroaches of the road', unworthy scum who freeload on the public highway and are terrible lawbreakers. For such a person to challenge a driver for lawbreaking is a massive affront to the social order, and people don't like this."
Source: https://road.cc/content/news/taxi-driver-warns-cyclingmikey-after-challenging-phone-use-301405
David Hunter, CEO of Take Me [Group] Ltd is delighted to announce to the industry that Crown Cars of Wrexham will be joining companies including ADT Taxis, VGT Taxis, TC Cars, Steve’s Taxis, Tower Cabs, Taxifirst, Westside Taxis, Intercity Private hire, Raffles, Eco Cars, Lee Cabs, 1AB and Star Cars and have signed up to be part of our growing group of taxis.
Andy Roberts took over Crown Cars in 2016, although the taxi business has been established since 1983. Andy told us “Crown Cars are one of the leading providers of taxi hire in the Wrexham area, we have an extensive fleet of cars including both 6 seater and 8 seater vehicles. With over 35 years in the taxi industry, customer service is key to our business, ensuring we offer a prompt and reliable service only using local drivers with the right knowledge.”
Andy started in the taxi industry as a driver in 2009, and following a couple of changes of job, and a cycling accident – Andy being a keen cyclist – he took out a small loan and purchased a 8 seater minibus, the first one for Crown Cars, and has since built the business up to have now over 20+ drivers in the area.
Crown cars is a long established taxi office based in Rhosllannerchrugog, Nr Wrexham, a relatively small town in Wales, which is now on the global map, thanks to Ryan Reynolds and the smash hit tv show “Welcome to Wrexham” which has seen the Hollywood A List descend into Wrexham on match days.
We asked Andy if the TV show has had an impact on the local community and he told us “yes, we can see especially on match days that there is more and more work for drivers, and now that the club has been promoted to the football league, we feel more visitors will start to come to the town, which will benefit us, the pubs, hotels and general economy of the town”
David Hunter said “It is great that the Take Me team have worked so hard to add Crown Cars to the Group. I know Andy and his team will bring new skills that we can all learn from, as well as our other Taxi business leaders sharing their best practises with him and the crew at Crown Cars.”
David went on to say “This is how as a Group we get better with every single new company that joins us. Each brings its own unique skills, and together we become stronger. Keep your eyes peeled for what may happen over the summer.”
Take Me managing director David Hunter said “The Company have more acquisitions in the pipeline to be announced in the near future and 2023 is shaping up to be just as busy as last year.
Take Me MD David Hunter summed up “It is exciting times at Take Me as we keep expanding and adding brilliant local businesses to our network fleet. Together we can bring our skills and infrastructure from being a national brand but build on the local expertise of these amazing well established taxi operators. It seems to be a great combination, and we are already working on adding to the network over the next 12 months”
For further info please visit: http://ta8me.co.uk/ or email: david@ta8me.co.uk
Take Me Group Ltd
A Blackburn private hire driver who made £145,000 by ferrying two men round Lancashire and North Wales to steal high performance cars has been ordered to pay back over £89,000 in compensation.
The Lancashire Telegraph reports that all three men were jailed for a total of 25 years for their roles in stealing the cars worth more than £250,000 in total as well as cash and jewellery.
During sentencing, further thefts, which pre-dated a police investigation, were also taken into consideration, bringing the total value of goods stolen by the gang members to more than £500,000.
Following a trial at Preston Crown Court cabbie Shujun Miah, 34, from Blackburn, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to commit theft of motor vehicles. He was sentenced to eight years.
Michael Gallagher, 32, from Liverpool, was also found guilty of the same offences and sentenced to eight years.
Daniel Deens, 32, from Liverpool, pleaded guilty to the same offences and was sentenced to nine years and four months after admitting to further offences which were taken into consideration by the judge when handing out his sentence.
The court heard how Miah used his private hire vehicle to transport the trio around over a four-week period in February and March 2019, mainly targeting properties with high-performance cars parked outside.
A total of nine cars, including Audis and Volkswagen Golfs, were stolen from addresses in Darwen, Wilpshire, Chorley, Preston, Leyland and Walton-le-Dale, as well as a number in North Wales. Several other cars and properties were targeted during the period, including two in one night, but were unsuccessful after the gang were disturbed by burglar alarms.
The gang used specialised equipment to snap locks and gain entry to homes to steal car keys, as well as using a technique known as “fishing” to hook keys through letterboxes.
Registration plates were then doctored on the stolen vehicles in an attempt to avoid detection.
Officers investigating the burglaries analysed telephone records, CCTV and ANPR data to track the group’s movements and link all of the offences.
During the investigation parts from a number of the stolen cars were discovered at 'chop shops' in Nelson and Merseyside. Several of the stolen cars have never been recovered.
Jewellery and cash were also reported stolen during the burglaries.
Shortly after midnight on March 15, 2019, officers stopped a PHV driven by Miah and arrested him along with Gallagher at the scene.
Deens, who is thought to have run off from the vehicle, was subsequently arrested in Merseyside following a country-wide appeal for his arrest.
Following a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Burnley Crown Court on Thursday 25 May 25, Miah, who benefitted from the operation to the tune of £145,964, was ordered to pay £89,250 in compensation by August 24.
Source: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23547068.blackburns-shujun-miah-ordered-pay-back-89-000/
Damaged tyres and wheels from potholes across Brighton and Hove have spurred a taxi trade representative to start a petition.
Andrew Peters, of the Brighton and Hove Cab Trade Association, wants enough people to sign his petition highlighting the effect of potholes on all road users so he can make a presentation to the council to complain about the lack of maintenance.
He started the “Brighton and Hove – Pothole City” petition on the Change.org website and more than 370 people had signed it by Friday 26 May.
Mr Peters needs 1,200 signatures before he can make a speech to councillors and receive a public response.
On the Change.org website, he said: “By signing this petition you are raising your concern with Brighton and Hove City Council and demanding that action is taken to repair the roads and an official statement to be provided.”
He started his petition after his cab was damaged when it hit a pothole. He said that what frustrated him was that the council required taxi drivers to keep their vehicles to a high standard but did not follow the same principles when it came to roads.
Mr Peters said: “Like all drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in the city, taxi drivers have to be on high alert for the ever-deteriorating roads that are crumbling away on a daily basis which are down to the sheer neglect by the council, so the state of the roads affect everyone.
“Having been in the trade for over 40 years, I have never seen the roads as being as bad as they are now.
“My own vehicle suffered damage to two new tyres due to a deep pothole. I submitted a claim against the council for the cost of replacement – which I had to do straight away.
“I did note that within a few days, this specific pothole (on the A259 at Ovingdean) was filled in, so this left me wondering if the council only takes action when a claim is made rather than try to prevent damage to cars.
“This seems to show that the old myth is true that paying out to those who bother to make a claim is probably cheaper than being proactive.
“It has now been two months since the claim was acknowledged but I have yet to be compensated.
“Annoyingly, my taxi had only recently been through the strict council compliance test, which is a higher-level MoT, but shortly after I made the claim, I noticed the taxi wasn’t driving as smoothly as it normally did.
“This became worse so I had it checked out only to discover that there was a component that failed badly which could only be due to that pothole that ruined the two tyres.
“This cost several hundred pounds to correct but, because I had already submitted a claim for the tyres, I didn’t think the council would accept another and would probably be difficult to prove.”
Mr Peters said that taxi drivers were “very fed up” with the effects of poorly maintained roads on their vehicles, resulting in stress.
He questioned whether the council was carrying out regular road checks and maintenance because so many across the city were pockmarked with potholes.
To read or sign the petition, click here: https://www.change.org/p/brighton-hove-pothole-city
Dramatic CCTV footage has captured the moment a hooded figure set a taxi alight on a residential driveway.
A Drongan taxi driver has been convicted of sexually assaulting a female passenger after offering to waive her fare in exchange for sex.
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.