A taxi driver drove his friend to the shop while disqualified and has been banned for one year, a court heard.
The Salisbury Journal reports that Richard Coulson, 64, drove a company-owned Vauxhall Zafira without a valid driving licence and with no insurance.
The taxi had been parked outside his home because the company "had problems" parking cars at the office.
Coulson, from Amesbury, decided to use the car to drive his friend three miles to the shops in Larkhill when he was stopped by police.
Officers recognised Coulson as someone who had been disqualified and he admitted at the roadside that he had been driving illegally.
Coulson appeared in Salisbury Magistrate's Court on Friday, March 10, and the court heard that he had eight and a half weeks left of his six-month totting-up ban.
Bob Scott, defending, said Coulson "took a silly risk", adding: "He was not comfortable working but he did a friend a favour by taking them to the shop.
"The ban will have an effect on his ability to employ himself."
He is due to start the process of a knee replacement on March 24 and Mr Scott said: "In any respect, I don't think he'll be driving any time soon."
Coulson pleaded guilty to the two motoring offences, was ordered to pay £533 and was banned from driving for 12 more months.
Private hire vehicles coming to Cheltenham Festival are asked to only pick up pre-booked customers.
As Cheltenham’s four-day jump racing festival begins Tuesday 14 to 17 March 2023, the town will buzz with activity.
Private hire drivers are being warned by the council’s licensing team that they should only come to Cheltenham this week for the purposes of fulfilling legitimate pre-bookings.
The council’s licensing team will be undertaking test purchasing operations and drivers found guilty of illegally plying for hire face fines of £1,000 and the prospect of losing their licence.
Cllr Martin Horwood, member for customer regulatory services said: ‘’The council continues to take a zero tolerance approach to unlawful taxi activity.
"Private hire vehicle drivers should not be tempted to try and ply for hire and take cash work on the side. Our enforcement officers will continue to carry out spot checks and monitor activity during major race meets.
"The council will again seek to prosecute any unsafe or unlicensed taxis chancing their luck during the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.’’
Jason Kirkwood licensing team leader said: ‘’We see scenarios each year with members of the public who’ve had a great day and now just want to get home or back to the hotel. We see private hire drivers trying their luck and our message is clear, without a booking for a private hire vehicle the insurance that protect passengers will often be invalid and the driver is acting illegally."
‘’Our team will be actively checking licensed vehicles and drivers working during race week with the help from colleagues at Gloucestershire Constabulary, Avon and Somerset Constabulary, South Glos Council, Tewkesbury Borough Council and Wolverhampton Council.’’
The most congested cities in the UK have been revealed with some drivers spending almost 40 minutes to travel just six miles.
Car rental experts at StressFreeCarRental.com have crunched the numbers to find the drivers who are spending the most time sitting in their cars.
London drivers experience the worst congestion in the world - travelling at an average of just eight mph during rush hour.
Motorists in the North West experience the second and third worst congestion in the UK, as Manchester and Liverpool have an average travel speed of 13 mph and 14 mph respectively, during peak times.
Edinburgh makes the top five of the worst congested cities, taking on average 21.3 minutes to drive six miles
Drivers in the East Midlands also experience long wait times sitting in traffic, as Nottingham and Leicester make the top ten list also.
Cardiff and Bournemouth rank at the ninth and tenth worst congested cities in the country, with an average speed of less than 20 mph during rush hour.
Sheffield and Bristol also have some of the most jam-packed roads in the UK, with drivers there spending 20 minutes making six miles of progress during peak travel times.
A spokesperson for StressFreeCarRental.com said: “It’s unsurprising to see the capital city at the top of the league table - with Londoners travelling at an average of eight miles an hour at rush hour.
“This would mean that it would take approximately two hours for someone commuting from Richmond in west London to drive the 16 miles to work at Canary Wharf in the east.
“Of the top ten, it’s only drivers in Nottingham, Leicester, Cardiff and Bournemouth who can make a six-mile journey in less than 20 minutes.
“For motorists in the most congested cities of Sheffield, Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester and London the journey will take 20 minutes or more.
“Drivers are experiencing slow moving traffic every day - with an average speed of only 14.5 mph during rush hour across the UK as a whole.
“And many motorists are spending over an hour doing their daily commute because of how congested our city's roads have become.
“This is frustratingly slow and none of us particularly enjoy spending longer than we already do sitting in our cars while we miss out on things we would rather be doing
“But it is surprising not to see some of the UK’s biggest cities on the list - Bournemouth ranking above Birmingham is surprising when you consider the reputation our second city has for congestion.
“What we might be seeing is the result of differing levels of investment into improving roads and public transport from city to city.
“As we try to meet targets on pollution and emissions, the UK needs more investment to help traffic to flow more freely.
“This might involve reviewing plans to introduce congestion charges for motorists in these cities - as several of them have recently cancelled plans to do so
“More funding into improving roads and public transport systems to tackle congestion should be a top priority for the UK.”
Almost a third of licensed taxis in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area are unlikely to comply with European exhaust emission standards.
According to the Bournemouth Echo, BCP councillors have turned down a plea from the trade association to relax the council’s rules – although a review is to be requested for the new council to look at after the May elections.
David Lane from the BCP Taxi and Private Hire Association told councillors at a meeting on Thursday 9 March, that unless the requirement to meet the standards were relaxed he feared it could result in many drivers being forced to leave the trade because they would not be able to afford to buy newer vehicles.
The licensing committee meeting heard that 304 of the 938 BCP Council-registered fleet are thought to currently not comply with the Euro 6 emissions standard, mainly because they are older than when the exhaust levels were introduced.
Most of the committee members were against relaxing the need for licensed vehicles to comply with the standard – saying it would undermine BCP’s commitment to climate change.
Committee vice chair Cllr Toby Johnson said: “It would be a detrimental step to move it back any further.
"It would be a retrograde step for a council trying to be at the forefront of the climate change agenda.”
Others said they would like to see the current age restrictions on vehicles changed, replacing it with a mileage limit, and more done to encourage wheelchair accessible taxis, only two having been registered in the past year.
Cllr David Kelsey said he would like to see many of the hackney carriage and private hire policies reviewed given that most of the rules had been in place since before BCP Council came into being.
Committee chair Cllr Judy Butt agreed to call for that review with the committee voting to keep existing policies in place for now.
She is also to ask the council’s highways team to review the adequacy of taxi stand provision across the area after an informal audit found some possible shortcomings and places where new ranks might be provided.
Cllr David Brown asked for that review to also look at taking action against cars, other than taxis, parking in areas allocated as taxi stands or ranks.
He said the problem had been highlighted around the Dolphin Centre at Poole where members of the public had used taxi areas to park so they could go shopping – depriving the taxi drivers of the spaces allocated to them.
He said, on occasions, it had let to altercations with enforcement action needed by parking wardens to protect the spaces for their proper use.
Source: https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23379585.fears-bcp-taxi-drivers-leave-trade-exhaust-rules/
Liverpool police stopped a private hire vehicle and reported the driver after he was seen driving the black Volkswagen with a frozen windscreen and only a small section of the windscreen clear.
The private hire vehicle was pulled over on Kensington in the early hours of on Saturday 11 March, as the driver was not able to see the full road ahead clearly.
Merseyside Police said in a tweet: "There was no way the driver of this private hire vehicle could've had a full view of the road.
"He was stopped on Kensington after he was seen driving around with a frozen windscreen and reported for the offence."
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.