Fifteen out of 16 taxis that were stopped in a safety spot-check in Pendle failed to meet the required standards, a councillor has said.
LancsLive reports that the results were the worst-ever for this type of spot-check. Issues included oil leaks, which could have burst into flames, and missing wheel nuts, said Kieran McGladdery, chairman of Pendle Council’s Taxi Licensing Committee.
He highlighted the spot-checks and new plans to improve the checks but there is some disagreement in Pendle about the ideas, the level of consultation and the way forward.
Proposed taxi licensing changes include a new vehicle check-list and penalty system for firms or drivers who fail to comply. Also a new mobile phone app which ensures genuine vehicle checks are done.
Pendle Council has been looking at making changes to taxi checks and licensing enforcement for some time. Various committees have considered the issues and the taxi trade was consulted earlier this year.
The borough’s taxi committee recently drew-up a new safety check-list and proposed penalties for companies which operate taxi businesses and drivers. These were then considered by the more-senior Policy & Resources Committee in March.
Cllr McGladdery said he was alarmed at the taxi spot checks. He said: “The spot checks involved council officers, VOSA engineers and the police escorting taxis to a garage for safety checks. This resulted in 15 of 16 vehicles failing the basic standards and being pulled off the road immediately.
“Some of the failures I witnessed during the spot-check were five vehicles with major oil leaks. The VOSA engineers said these could imminently burst into flames.
"We also saw multiple vehicles with wheel nuts missing – the worst had four missing. One vehicle with the hand brake applied started rolling away.
"Elsewhere, we saw various bulbs were out amongst other safety-critical failures.”
The new taxi licensing proposals include a check-list of faults and breaches. The breaches include dishonest statements from drivers or taxi companies, along with penalties. These range from penalty points to the loss of licences.
A new app has also been suggested for drivers to use on phones. This would ensure drivers perform pre-shift safety checks by using GPS technology which detects movement and timings, and can also request photos.
Cllr McGladdery added: “Cllr Neil Butterworth has attended the taxi committee for 16 years and cites regularly the long record of poor results. The latest results are the worst on record.
"We have noted the impact of the covid pandemic on finances covering recent years. However, safety is a priority.
“The committee has tried hard this last 18-months to introduce voluntary policies and to steer the trade towards best practice, to turn results around.
"Multiple working groups, meetings with the taxi trade and test garages have all taken place. But putting action plans in place have yielded no improvements, because the actions were not carried out.
“We’re now at a situation where it’s hard for it to get worse. When 15 from 16 taxis fail a spot check, there’s little scope for further decline. A death or serious injury is now a certainty.”
He said some drivers or operators claimed they could not meet the suggested checks or blamed things like potholes for causing vehicle problems. He claimed: “This is a total red herring.”
A majority of Pendle councillors at the latest Policy & Resources meeting decided to get the task-and-finish group to discuss the issues around the vehicle safety standards with three representatives from the taxi trade and one councillor from each of the Conservative, Labour and Lib-Dem groups and council officers. But they also said the trade needs to bring forward concrete proposals on improving safety.
Regarding different political groups at Pendle, Cllr McGladdery claimed Labour and Lib-Dem councillors had, one way or another, opposed or not supported the new taxi ideas yet had no alternatives.
But the claims were rejected by the opposition groups.
Labour Cllr Asjad Mahmood said this week: “It doesn’t surprise me that while Cllr McGladdery publicly says one thing even his own party leader and colleagues publicly disagree with his proposals. Maybe that is why they supported my suggestion at the Policy & Resources committee to work with the taxi trade and agree a framework for safer taxis.
“It became clear at the meeting that the recent taxi committee which Cllr McGladdery had run for the last two years hadn’t held a single meeting with the trade representatives, which meant almost 80 per cent of the trade disagreed with his proposal.
"I look forward to working in a positive manner with everyone to improve safety. At the same time I’d suggest Cllr McGladdery consider his position with no support from his leadership.”
Lib-Dem Cllr David Whipp said: "At the Policy & Resources Committee meeting, it was the Conservative group leader who used his casting vote to defer action on taxis, after his group was split on the issue.
"Labour councillors did propose deferring action for further consultation, which some Conservative councillors then supported. My vote against this is recorded in the minutes.
"Frankly, Cllr McGladdery is twisting the truth beyond breaking point. It is his own group that has failed to get tough on taxi safety.”
Source: https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/worst-ever-taxis-spot-checks-26571183
A man who stabbed a taxi driver in Cambridge has been jailed for one year and eight months.
The Cambridge Independent reports that Uyi Orobor, 22, and an accomplice asked the driver for a ride after seeing him parked in Arbury Court, Cambridge, at about 8.15pm on 14 January last year.
They got in despite there already being a passenger inside.
The driver protested and got out but Orobor began kicking and punching the driver who fell to the ground.
As the victim was getting up to run away, Orobor pulled him back by his jumper and stabbed him once with a knife in the shoulder.
He managed to flee and called the police from a nearby fish and chip shop.
Orobor and the accomplice then ran off towards Arbury Road.
The victim attended hospital for treatment for his injury, which was not life threatening, while the passenger was uninjured and had fled before police arrival.
Orobor was arrested on February 11 last year following an unrelated incident, while efforts are ongoing to trace his accomplice.
On Thursday, 16 March, at Peterborough Crown Court, Orobor, from Oldham, was jailed for one year and eight months, having pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.
DC Alex Galan-Tarachiu said: “This was a shocking attack on a taxi driver who was just going about his daily business.
“Orobor showed no respect for him and used a grossly disproportionate level of violence.”
A taxi driver ‘no longer works nights’ after being robbed and threatened by three passengers.
The Lancashire Telegraph reports that Ellie Wade, 25, and Jordan Thorpe, 20, were spared jail at Burnley Crown Court on March 24 for their involvement in the robbery.
Claire Brocklebank, prosecuting, said Wade and Thorpe, along with ringleader Ryan Gardener, and another woman got in a cab at Merlin Close, Leyland, at around 11pm on December 18, 2020.
Due to the long journey to near Preston, the cabbie asked for the fare upfront and Gardener attempted to pay.
When his card was declined, the driver said they must either pay another way or get out of the cab.
Gardener then grabbed the driver from the back seat and shouted ‘rob him, rob him’.
Thorpe helped in restraining the driver, with Wade stealing just over £20 in change.
Other items were stolen from the driver and the girls fled, Gardener got out of the car, reached back through the window and punched the driver.
Gardener and Thorpe ran off but returned along with Wade and held up the driver’s car keys saying he would have to pay £40 or £50 to get them back.
The group fled when residents started coming out of their houses to see what was going on.
During the incident, the driver had managed to press a button which alerted his company to what was happening, allowing them to call the police.
Thorpe denied his involvement until January this year when he pleaded guilty, admitting his involvement in the robbery.
Wade continues to deny her involvement in the robbery despite being found guilty by a jury following a trial earlier this year.
In a victim impact statement, the taxi driver said he has lost income as he no longer works nights which are busier and he struggled to sleep for some time after the incident.
Gardener pleaded guilty to his involvement and was given 16 months in a young offenders institute by the courts in 2021.
Mitigating for Thorpe, from Fulwood, Mr Parkinson said his client had only just turned 18 at the time of the robbery and the judge should consider that in the sentence.
He also said Thorpe has recently become and father and jailing him would take him away from the three-month-old and his partner.
Mitigating for Wade, from Preston, Isobel Thomas said Wade was a single mother and jailing her would have a significant impact on her daughter.
Ms Thomas also said Wade was drunk at the time and she has since cut down on drinking.
District Judge Richard Clews said he accepted neither of the pair instigated the robbery and they just reacted to Gardener’s behaviour.
Judge Clews handed Thorpe a 15-month detention in a young offenders institution, suspended for 18 months.
He will be subject to a curfew between 7pm and 6am for three months and must complete 135 hours of unpaid work.
Wade was handed an 18-month sentence, suspended for 18 months.
She must complete 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 150 hours of unpaid work.
Source: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23410566.taxi-drivers-terror-robbed-passengers/
An impotent taxi driver who raped a vulnerable young woman after picking her up outside a popular nightclub has been handed a ten-year sentence.
Michael Harte preyed on his drunk victim outside a nightclub in Belfast city centre before taking her to a quiet nearby road and raping her.
The Belfast Telegraph reports that Harte from west Belfast, tried to hide his number plate and lied to the victim about the firm he worked for in an attempt to evade justice but was jailed for the attack at Dungannon Crown Court in March.
Judge Richard Greene KC branded him a liar who had deliberately gone looking for an intoxicated young woman to victimise.
“It would have been obvious to you that she was very vulnerable and you formed the intent to rape her shortly thereafter,’’ he said.
“She was at your mercy and you carefully planned where and how you were going to attack her, you parked up in a back street off the main road and committed this appalling sexual assault on her.
“I consider this a carefully planned sexual assault and it is clear the impact on the victim has been profound.”
The court heard how the victim returned home from her night out in October 2016 in “quite a distressed state” with friends immediately sensing something was wrong.
She told her pals she had got into a taxi and was in it for a “long period of time” and thought something had happened but was “too drunk” to remember.
The victim later said in her police interview she remembered “being touched and felt someone on top of her”, adding: “I do feel like I’ve had sex”.
Harte denied raping her and insisted he had “reluctantly” given the victim a lift home, but this was rejected by the jury.
Lawyers for Harte told the court in mitigation their client is “unwell” and suffers from high cholesterol, high blood pressure, back pain, type 2 diabetes and asthma as well as erectile dysfunction.
Incredibly, they also sought to play down his offending by insisting his erectile dysfunction would make him less likely to commit similar crimes in the future.
Referring to the victim personal statement, the judge said the victim may never recover from her ordeal and ordered Harte to spend five years behind bars followed by five on licence.
“She describes being consumed by her assault, which is a powerful indicator of the impact of your offending,” he said.
“You continue to deny your guilt and therefore lack remorse, you thought you could sexually assault her and she would not be able to recollect the events and hold you to account for your crime.
“It is obvious she will have significant difficulty getting over what you did to her and in reality she will never do.”
As well as his ten-year sentence, Harte was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and was slapped with a sexual offences prevention order for ten years.
A taxi driver has been convicted of making a false statement in order to obtain a licence.
On June 28 2022, Zaheer Abbas, applied for the grant of a private hire and hackney carriage driver’s licence from Chorley Council.
In support of his application, he declared he had never been convicted of an offence and he had never had a licence revoked by another council.
In fact, he had been convicted by Manchester Magistrates’ Court in 2017 for an offence of unlawfully plying for hire.
Following this, he had his hackney carriage driver licence revoked by Rossendale Borough Council.
Lancashire Telegraph reports that this dishonesty was identified by Chorley Council officers during their usual licensing checks and an investigation was launched with Abbas withdrawing his application for a licence shortly after.
Abbas, 41, was then invited to explain his actions on several occasions, confirming to officers he was going to attend an interview under caution before then failing to attend.
His actions generated hundreds of pounds in interpreter costs.
Regardless of his failure to assist with the investigation, the council decided to charge Abbas for an offence contrary to Section 57 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.
Abbas pleaded guilty to this offence but requested a court hearing to mitigate the sentence.
Following a hearing at Blackpool Magistrates’ Court on March 8, Abbas from Burnley, was convicted of the offence and sentenced to a fine of £120, reduced to £80 due to his early guilty plea and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £32 and the council’s costs of £539.
Rossendale Borough Council provided a witness statement as part of the proceedings.
Following the successful prosecution, private hire and hackney carriage licence applicants are being urged to be honest with the council about past convictions.
Chair of the Licensing and Public Safety Committee, Councillor Matthew Lynch said: “This is great result for the team and a great example of partnership working.
"We are robust in our application checks and our message for prospective drivers is to be honest with us about past applications and convictions because we will find out.
“If they are not completely honest with the council when applying for a licence, they could find themselves with a criminal record and a hefty fine to pay.”
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