A contrite cabbie apologised to police following a 'near miss' with a squad car in Manchester city centre but then officers noticed that his passenger was smoking cannabis in the back seat.
The Manchester Evening News reports that the unusual drugs bust took place on King Street.
The passenger was arrested on suspicion of possessing class B drugs with intent to supply.
In a post on Facebook GMP City Centre said: "Officers recently stopped a taxi following a near miss with their police vehicle on King Street in the Commercial District.
The apologetic taxi driver was reported, it seems officers didn't need a 'coppers nose' for this stop as the passenger smoking cannabis in the back was speedily arrested for possession with intent to supply Class B drugs.
"He will remain on strict bail conditions until the case is taken to the Crown Prosecution Service."
A thug who was out with his girlfriend celebrating his birthday robbed a taxi driver and told him he was going to "do him" in a disagreement over a fare.
YorkshireLive reports that Gareth Richards, 44, had a "tussle" with the taxi driver who had charged him £10 for a journey from Wakefield to Knottingley on January 24 this year.
Prosecutor Duncan Ritchie told Leeds Crown Court on Friday 5 April, the victim - a driver for a company based in Pontefract - picked up a fare at around 2.30am. Richards and his partner got into the taxi and upon reaching their destination paid £10 for the journey.
Mr Ritchie said: "The arrangement, it seems, would be that the driver would wait for them to return to Wakefield. Around five minutes later, while still waiting, he was approached by the defendant. The defendant demanded change from the £10 he had previously given and he [the driver] replied that there wasn't any change due to the defendant.
"He put it that the defendant then became argumentative and said he was owed £6. The defendant then went into the car and grabbed the bag with the driver's takings.
"There was a tussle between the two during which the defendant pushed the driver and said he was going to 'do him.'
"He [the driver] took that as being a threat of violence. The defendant managed to wrestle the bag from him and run off."
It was said the bag contained around £70 in cash. The driver was said to have suffered a "slight graze" and it was said in court the incident lasted between five and ten minutes and described as being "very scary."
The court heard Richards, who appeared over a video link from HMP Lincoln, had previous convictions for offences of threatening behaviour, breach of a suspended sentence and a robbery in 1997.
He was on licence at the time of the robbery, which he indicated a guilty plea to at the magistrates' court.
Mitigating, Christopher Morton, said: "The background was a disagreement that he accepts and he accepts he was intoxicated,"
Mr Morton continued: "The distance [between locations] is a couple of miles and the understanding was it would be a £10 return journey.
"When they arrived, he returned to the taxi to tell the driver they wouldn't need the second half of the journey and so he thought he would be entitled to some change...
"It was a spur of the moment offence - there was no pre-planning for that matter. The fact of the matter is the defendant, when under the influence of drink, reacted badly to being told he wouldn't be given change he thought he was entitled to. He was angry and did make a threat and grabbed and stole the driver's takings.
"It happened on his 44th birthday. He was released from prison in September. His two-year-old son died in October 2023 and he had spent the day before the offence attending his son's grave and also drinking."
His Honour Judge Khan KC jailed Richards for two years and said: "This wasn't planned. It was clearly something that happened without any real thought and while you were in drink."
Source: https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/birthday-boy-robber-told-taxi-28946284
From Sunday 7 April, passengers using black cabs at Euston station will begin using a new taxi rank.
The new 36-space rank features a new passenger help point, improved wayfinding to the station, as well as 120 new cycle spaces.
The rank boasts upgraded overhead canopies and a wider junction to improve pedestrian crossing to and from the station.
The new taxi rank is located at the front of the bus station, adjacent to Eversholt Street and Euston Road, in the former Euston Square Gardens East site directly in front of the station.
For passengers requiring mobility assistance, the Assisted Travel Lounge will remain in their current location in Euston Square Gardens West. Staff will be on hand in both locations to provide directions and assistance.
The current rank will be decommissioned and become a temporary public garden with new planting, seating areas and a walking route through to the station. The garden will remain until the area is required for construction of a future HS2 terminus.
The new taxi rank has been constructed as part of HS2’s work at the station, by HS2’s station construction partner, Mace Dragados joint venture (MDjv). As well as the new improved infrastructure at the taxi rank, MDjv have delivered new planting beds and trees around the taxi rank, improving the experience for passengers.
Private hire vehicles can continue to drop off only in Euston Square Gardens West.
Gareth Parry, Euston station manager at Network Rail said: “I’m delighted that the new taxi rank will open later this week, part of our wider investment in upgrading Euston station.
"Teams from across the railway have worked closely together on this much needed upgrade and passengers can now have more comfortable journeys to and from the station.”
Nick Jones, HS2 Ltd’s Head of Delivery for Euston station, said: “As part of our preparatory works for a future HS2 terminus at Euston, we have relocated the current taxi rank.
"The new facility has been created to improve the passenger experience, with new plants and greenery, brightly coloured canopies, new seating and bicycle parking.”
A failed Australian taxi-industry disruptor has told a court that Uber began illegally operating its ridesharing service in Australia a decade ago to gain an unfair advantage over competitors.
The Independent reports that Taxi Apps, a startup that developed taxi-hailing app GoCatch, lodged a 196-page statement of claim in the Victoria state Supreme Court in which it alleges Uber knowingly launched UberX illegally in Australia in 2014.
The San Francisco-based rideshare giant was also accused of serious misconduct including corporate espionage and hacking of competitors’ systems.
The trial, which opened on Tuesday 2 April, comes two weeks after Uber agreed to pay 272 million Australian dollars ($178 million) to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by 8,000 Australian taxi and rental car drivers.
The drivers had demanded compensation for losses since Uber landed in Australia in 2012, first with limousine service Uber Black, followed by the taxi service Uber Taxi, then the rideshare service UberX without professional drivers.
Taxi Apps lawyer, Michael Hodge KC, told the court on Tuesday that Uber lawyers agreed on Monday to a statement of facts similar to that behind the class action settlement. Neither statement of facts has yet to be released by the court.
Hodge said Uber got a head start of at least 20 months over its competitors in Australia’s emerging transport app market by launching UberX when ridesharing was illegal in some Australian states.
“Uber is a company that quite deliberately set out to break the law in the hope that they could do it at such mass scale that they would ultimately be able to pressure people to allow them to then operate lawfully, and they did so intending to gain a competitive advantage,” Hodge told the court in opening his case.
“They appear to remain completely unrepentant about that and it ought, to pick up the language of exemplary damages, be some-thing that shocks the conscience,” Hodge added.
Hodge said if Uber had complied with Australian law, GoCatch would have continued its growth trajectory, accumulated drivers and eventually launched a ride-sharing product when the law allowed.
But UberX now dominates the Australian rideshare market and GoCatch, launched in 2014, departed the transport industry in 2021.
Uber lawyers have yet to address the court. But Uber said in a statement on Tuesday it would “vigorously defend the matter in court.”
“Uber firmly rejects any suggestion that we should be liable for the failure of other P2P businesses to adapt to an emerging competitive landscape,” the statement said, referring to peer-to-peer rides without professional drivers.
GoCatch co-founder Andrew Campbell said he was glad that Uber had been brought before the courts. “Uber has never accepted responsibility for its conduct towards GoCatch. Uber’s first priority was to win at any cost using any method to destroy us as a competitive threat,” Campbell said in a statement.
“We are fortunate to be in a position to go to court as we believe that is the only pathway for Uber to be held accountable,” Campbell added.
Uber is accused of obtaining the phone numbers of GoCatch drivers through spyware and of attempting to recruit them.
Emails between Uber executives reveal GoCatch was considered a major threat. “I want to destroy them before they get too legit,” Uber’s former Australian general manager David Rohrsheim said in an email to colleagues in 2013.
“We are heading towards UberX but we need to crush GoCatch first,” Rohrsheim also wrote.
The trial is scheduled to run for ten weeks before Justice Lisa Nichols without a jury.
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uber-ap-australian-supreme-court-melbourne-b2521939.html
A taxi driver has lost appeals to keep his licence after tyres on his cab were found to be so worn they were at risk of "imminent failure."
The Redditch Advertiser reports that Redditch driver Tomasz Billing has been ordered to pay a £600 contribution towards costs after losing two appeals against Redditch Borough Council's decision to revoke his licence to drive private hire and hackney carriage vehicles.
On March 19, the 39-year-old lost an appeal at Hereford Crown Court.
This followed an earlier appeal before Kidderminster Magistrates on December 21 2023, when the court upheld the decision of the licensing committee to revoke his private hire driver’s licence.
The driver was referred to the Licensing Committee in August 2023 after the two front tyres on his private hire vehicle were found to be in an illegal condition and were so worn, they were at risk of imminent failure.
Members of the Licensing Committee also considered a complaint from a passenger who raised concerns about Mr Billing’s driving and loud music played throughout the journey.
Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) manages the licensing and condition checks on private hire vehicles on behalf of Redditch Borough Council.
Head of WRS Simon Wilkes said: “Providing safe transport for our residents in vehicles which are well maintained is a high priority and one which the majority of our licence holders adhere to.
“We will continue to work with our drivers and customers to ensure they can travel around the Borough and beyond as safely as possible and they can be reassured that we will not tolerate potentially dangerous vehicle conditions and anti-social behaviour.”
Source: https://www.redditchadvertiser.co.uk/news/24231820.redditch-taxi-driver-loses-appeals-keep-licence/
Ways of increasing the amount of wheelchair-accessible taxis across the city are set to be explored to make it easier for those who need one to get one.
Cumbrian taxi drivers are fighting back against proposed licensing changes they fear will cripple their livelihoods.
Bolton taxi drivers are urged to sign up for free safeguarding and disability awareness training before the deadline on October 31st, 2024.
A Conwy Council meeting on Monday revealed a critical failing that allowed a taxi driver whose license had been revoked to continue transporting children to school.
Worcester City Council is seeking public opinion on a proposal to make safeguarding training mandatory for taxi and private hire drivers.
A proposal to increase driver, vehicle and private hire operator licences was discussed on Friday 19 July 19 at Sheffield City Council’s waste and street scene committee.
Through this collaboration, FREENOW willl provide additional benefits giving drivers up to 25% off pay-as-you-go rates across the entire bp pulse electric charging network and discounted fuel at all UK bp branded sites.
Wakefield Licensing, working alongside West Yorks Police Roads Policing unit, NPT, Off-Road Bike Team, Police Intercept Team, DVLA & DVSA, held a Partnership Day of Action at Thornes Park.
A pilot emissions reduction grant scheme providing financial support for hackney carriage drivers to upgrade to cleaner EURO 6 and fully battery powered vehicles has been launched.
The ride-hailing giant has submitted an application for an operator licence to Darlington Borough Council, with a decision expected in August.
Darlington could soon see Uber cars on its streets after the ride-hailing giant applied for a licence to operate in the town.
Stratford-upon-Avon District Council has revoked the licences of two taxi drivers following a series of speeding offences.
A Northampton taxi driver has been found guilty of trafficking cocaine between his home city and Milford Haven.
The move comes after concerns were raised by the taxi industry about the rising cost of purchasing new vehicles.