The government has indicated it will not be intervening on the ULEZ extension, after being called upon to take action in a recent petition and letter sent to the Prime Minister.
The Romford Recorder reports that, Havering Residents’ Association (HRA), which forms the borough's administration in coalition with Labour, has garnered more than 700 signatures on its petition requesting the government step in and veto the ULEZ extension.
In it, the umbrella group claims the £12.50-a-day scheme for non-compliant vehicles, due to be implemented on August 29, poses a threat to workers, families, elderly, the sick and disabled.
“They will likely seek alternative employment outside of the zone, jeopardising the care sector and no doubt many other sectors,” it adds.
“Many will find the cost or replacement out of reach. The scrappage scheme is far too low, with a very restrictive criteria for eligibility, it is also only limited to those within the zone.”
Instead, the group wants to see the government veto the extension by “enacting Section 143 of the GLA Act (1999) because the mayor's transport strategy/policy is indeed 'detrimental to any area that is outside Greater London'”.
The same plea is made in a letter sent directly to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
A Department for Transport spokesperson however said that all decisions on road user charging “are a matter for the Mayor of London”.
The spokesperson added: “It is for the mayor to justify the decision to residents and businesses and properly consult to ensure those who can least afford to make the switch are supported through any future measures.”
The HRA’s call for government intervention differs from Havering Council’s official line.
While it refused to sign the section eight agreement, which grants permission to erect CCTV cameras and road signs on borough roads, the council decided not to join a multi-borough legal challenge, and is instead asking the mayor to delay the expansion and introduce an enhanced scrappage scheme.
When asked why the petition and letter were distributed under the HRA name and not the council, Cllr Gillian Ford, deputy leader of Havering Council, said: “This is a political decision. The council cannot play politics.”
Cllr Keith Darvill, the Labour leader, clarified the group's position had not changed, and that it intends to continue lobbying for a better scrappage scheme including an extension to those who drive into the capital for work.
A spokesperson for London mayor Sadiq Khan has previously told the Recorder that around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely every year due to toxic air, with the greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution in its outer boroughs.
They also referenced the mayor’s £110million scrappage scheme, adding: “Any money received from the scheme will be reinvested into running and improving London’s transport network, such as expanding bus routes in outer London.”
View the HRA petition online here: https://www.change.org/p/the-government-must-veto-the-london-s-mayor-s-extension-of-ulez-to-outer-london
Source: https://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/23391128.ulez-government-indicates-wont-intervene-expansion/
A Pembroke man has been jailed for trying to rob a taxi driver.
The Western Telegraph reports that Daniel Mckenzie, 31, appeared at Swansea Crown Court on March 15 where he was due to stand trial on a charge of attempted robbery.
Mckenzie had already pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at an earlier hearing but changed his plea on the robbery charge.
Miss Donaghue, prosecuting, told the court that on September 4, 2022, Mckenzie had turned up drunk at his sister’s house. She said that his sister wanted him to go away and gave him £5 for the taxi driver to take him away from her house.
While in the taxi, the defendant took a joint out of his pocket and the taxi driver asked him to not smoke it.
He responded, “It’s not your car, don’t worry.” And when asked again, he put a lighter to the driver’s throat, saying “watch what I can do with this,” and said he was going to take his money.
Mckenzie grabbed the driver’s throat and punched him in the face. The driver pulled over and got out of the car, telling Mckenzie to get out.
He punched him again several times, which led to the driver pushing him to the floor.
When Mckenzie got up, he went to go for the car door, which the driver stood in the way of to block his access to the money.
A member of the public intervened and the police were called, taking the driver to hospital and arresting Mckenzie.
Mckenzie responded ‘no comment’ to all questions and an examination of the driver showed he had gained small lacerations on his face.
Miss Walton, defending, told the court how Mckenzie, who has more than 30 convictions for 54 offences, including one for robbery in 2011, believed that he was supposed to be taken to a garage as that was how far the £5 would take him, but when they went passed, he believed he was being overcharged and ‘saw red.’
She said the defendant was remorseful and since being in prison, has gained work in a privileged position in the prison and wants to be someone his four children can look up to and he has been working on bettering himself.
Recorder Christian Jowett sentenced Mckenzie to 54 months in prison for the robbery and 10 months for the assault, with the sentences to run concurrently and the time he has spent on remand to count towards the sentence.
Soiurce: https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/23389614.pembroke-man-jailed-attempted-robbery-assault/
A ‘predatory’ private hire driver who kept a pencil case of condoms and lube in his glove compartment has been jailed for raping a passenger.
According to the Metro, Homayon Ahmadi, 33, attacked the woman, aged in her 40s, in Croydon after picking her up from a hospital earlier on the evening of April 19, 2021.
Three months later, on July 25, a 21-year-old woman phoned police to say she and a friend had been molested after being collected from a central London nightclub.
Ahmadi, of Uxbridge, west London, was given a 13-year prison sentence after he admitted rape and two counts of sexual assault at Croydon Crown Court.
In a statement, his first victim said she suffers constant flashbacks and ‘paralysing fear’, My London reports.
She added: ‘The rape has had a major impact on my life, and I am constantly afraid and am no longer able to focus on my studies.’
Detective Constable Natalie Alchin, who led the investigation, said: "Ahmadi is a predatory offender, and we are pleased he is behind bars and unable to cause further harm."
The first victim called 999 on April 19 to report that she had been raped by a mini cab driver who picked her up after she had been discharged from hospital.
She was still wearing her hospital slippers and was in a vulnerable state, the court heard.
Alisdair Smith, prosecuting, said: "She approached this defendant in a car, and he was, the prosecution say, acting officially as a taxi or at least purported to be one and on that basis, she went with him.
"She was soon aware that she had no way to pay and said her partner at home would pay upon their arrival. The defendant’s demand was that she have sex with him."
He told jurors Ahmadi then pulled into a garage in Croydon and raped her.
Detectives immediately launched an investigation and began extensive enquiries to try and identify the driver and vehicle.
While that investigation was ongoing, the 21-year-old victim phoned police to report her attack.
Shortly after booking their cab home, her phone died, and the students started asking drivers parked up outside the nightclub if they were there to pick them up. When they approached Ahmadi’s window, he lied he was their driver and whisked them away.
They realised within minutes he was going the wrong way to their address and became worried when he stopped off to buy whisky, offered them a swig and suggested they go back to his.
Ahmadi then pulled over again, this time to demand one of the women sit beside him in the front.
The two victims attempted to get out of the car and leave, at which point Ahmadi sexually assaulted the first victim, while her friend attempted to stop him.
He proceeded to sexually assault the second woman before jumping back into his car and driving off.
The incident was reported to the police immediately but as the women were unable to identify the off licence, police were limited with the extent of the investigation.
However in October, Ahmadi was arrested on suspicion of drink driving and was later connected to the two attacks. During his interviews, he answered no comment but claimed that sex had been consensual, before later pleading guilty to the three charges.
The court heard Ahmadi had moved to the UK from Afghanistan in 2010 to study finance and had been granted asylum. His wife had been killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul alongside 40 others, which had led him to develop depression, PTSD and alcohol issues.
Speaking of the impact his actions had on the women, Judge Elizabeth Lowe said: “Women are entitled to go out if they want to, they are entitled to drink alcohol, they are entitled to get drunk, they are entitled to walk alone and they are entitled to do all of those things without fear of being sexually assaulted or raped by men like you."
She continued: “Everyone should appreciate, the only person to blame for those nights is you and the impact on these brave women is you.”
Labelling his behaviour "predatory and exploitative", he was jailed for 13 years with an extended licence period of seven years. He was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and a restraining order, preventing him from contacting any of his victims.
Upon his release, he is prohibited for applying for a licence or acting as a taxi driver.
DC Alchin said: "There may be other victims of Ahmadi who until now have not spoken to police. If you believe this is you, please contact us on 101. We have specialist officers who will support you."
Taxi fares could be going up in Wigan if cab drivers get their way - which will see them take home £50 a week more.
The Manchester Evening News reports that the Wigan Taxi Drivers and Owners Coalition has put forward a new fare price which would increase the current rates by £1.
Higher costs of fuel, an increased cost of living and insurance premiums for drivers were all factors that led the drivers to ask for this pay rise, a report states.
“Due to circumstances out of our control, cost of living going up, we would like to put in a hackney carriage fare increase,” the request to Wigan Council states.
“This time it’s not a big increase percentage wise, it’s just a flat rate £1 per job increase. So in a nutshell it’s a pound a job increase and no increase on mileage charge.
“That will help with the cost of living rise, it will give drivers an increase of about £50 per week and more.”
Breakdown of the new tariffs and charges:
Currently tariff three, when you get more than four people in a vehicle, is £1.50 per person (tariff one/two price). The coalition wants to double that to £3 per person on tariff three to bring it in line with double tariff one.
This decision from the Wigan Taxi Drivers and Owners Coalition came after a survey involving 81 licensed hackney carriage drivers between January 13 and February 3, 2023. A total of 58 voted in favour and 23 voted against.
“Some of the comments received state that they feel the proposed variation is not enough, and others state the current rates are enough,” a report said.
A comparison table comparing Wigan to other Greater Manchester boroughs showed the new fare would bring them from second lowest to being more expensive than Rochdale, Salford and Bolton in that order.
The coalition will appear before the Regulation Committee on Friday March 17 in Wigan Town Hall which will decide whether these new fares are agreeable.
Source: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/price-taxis-could-go-up-26490697#
The age limit on wheelchair accessible taxis is set to be relaxed in Blaenau Gwent.
The South Wales Argus reports that this will be done in the hope that it will increase the number of fully wheelchair-accessible taxis in the county borough.
At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s General Licensing committee on Monday, March 13, councillors debated tweaks that need to be made to its draft ‘Policy Relating to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licences’.
This follows changes made by central government which has seen the Welsh Government publish it’s ‘Guide to Harmonisation of Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing in Wales’ and the UK Government’s Department for Transport’s ‘Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards’.
Trading standards and licensing team manager, Steve Osborne told councillors that following a consultation, the main changes for the council’s policy are around CCTV and Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAVs).
Mr Osborne said: “There was a request to change the council’s WAV policy and lower the age limit to ten years as these vehicles are expensive.”
The policy currently requires this type of vehicle to become a licensed taxi within five years of the vehicle being registered.
Mr Osborne said that the council’s transport department which examines the road worthiness of taxis “have no objections in principle,” to the proposal.
Cllr Malcolm Cross asked how many taxis have wheelchair access in Blaenau Gwent and whether these are grants available to help taxi drivers buy them.
Senior licensing officer Helen Jones said: “We have around four to six vehicles that can carry a particular size wheelchair on to the vehicle without being dismantled and the passenger having to get out of the wheelchair. That’s out of about 120 licensed vehicles.
“If it were easier for people, we’d get more vehicles in the fleet.”
Committee chairwoman, Cllr Lisa Winnett said: “It would help so many people.”
Mr Osborne said that “if it’s the will of the committee” he would also investigate whether there are grants available to help buy these vehicles.
If there are, Mr Osborne would write to taxi drivers to tell them.
Councillors were also asked to decide whether CCTV should be voluntary or “mandatory” for taxis to have them,
Cllr Cross said that if he owned a taxi firm he would be “far happier” if his drivers had cameras.
Cllr Cross added: “I feel that a CCTV protects both the operator and the passenger and alleviates any doubt.”
Data protection officer, Steve Berry, explained that the problem with compelling taxi firms to have CCTV is “who controls” the data.
Mr Berry said: “The problems we face is by mandating it, we do exercise an element of control and responsibility and would need to tell taxi companies when and how to use it.
“With a voluntary one there’s nothing to stop the taxi company seeing the worth and need of it and putting that system in place – they take full control of that data and how it’s used.”
Councillors voted unanimously to support the changes to the policy and also to investigate whether there is grant funding to help drivers buy wheelchair accessible taxis.
A former paratrooper turned pet taxi driver is in the running for an Animal Star Award for his work in Wakefield and Pontefract.
Tariq Rehman, 75, from Stechford, had his licence removed by Solihull Council in November last year following a complaint from a passenger.
A taxi firm boss has branded the criminal justice system "broken" after new figures revealed almost a third of offenders in the town reoffended within a year.
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.