Taxi Driver Online

cant belive he's trying to get back in the taxi trade:

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133188&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133171&contentPK=11106118&moduleName=InternalSearch

KILLER IN BID TO GET BACK TAXI LICENCE

STUART ABEL

12:00 - 13 October 2004
A convicted killer stripped of his city taxi licence has launched a legal appeal to win it back, the Herald can reveal. Iain Morrison, who served less than two years in prison for manslaughter, is to take his case to Plymouth magistrates.

Beth Taylor, the mother of the man he killed, today said she was disgusted by his decision.

She said: "We can't get on with our lives until he stops driving a taxi."

Mr Morrison is appealing against the refusal by the council's licensing committee in August to grant him a private hire licence.

He was originally awarded a licence by the committee back in April - just weeks after he was released from prison. But he decided to hand over his badge in May, after Mrs Taylor asked the council to reverse its decision.

The committee then rescinded his licence two months ago.

Now Mr Morrison is asking city magistrates to overturn the council's decision which will allow him to work again - if he can find a licensed operator to employ him.

Mr Morrison, formerly of Roborough but now thought to be living in Colebrook, Plympton, threw a single punch at David Taylor, who tried to calm a late-night brawl in Union Street in April 2002.

The blow sent Mr Taylor falling to the floor where he struck his head, suffering fatal injuries.

Before sentencing Mr Morrison to five years in jail in February last year, Judge William Taylor described the act as 'gratuitous aggression'.

The court heard that he had previous convictions for assault causing actual bodily harm and common assault in 1989 and 1991.

The manslaughter sentence was later reduced on appeal to two-and-a-half years.

Mrs Taylor said: "He is not the right person to be driving a taxi.

"He may have only thrown one fatal punch but he has a background of violence. I would not feel safe if I saw him driving around in a taxi."

The city council refused to comment on the appeal, but is expected to contest the case in court.

Plymcabs also refused to comment and Mr Morrison was not available.

It would appear that some firms are really desperate for drivers.

_________________
IDFIMH

i hope this is the last we see of him........

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133188&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133171&contentPK=11297875&moduleName=InternalSearch&keyword=taxi&formname=sidebarsearch

CABBIE LOSES FIGHT FOR LICENCE


12:00 - 12 November 2004
A convicted killer who was stripped of his city taxi licence has lost his court appeal to win it back.

Ian Morrison, who served less than two years in prison for the manslaughter of David Taylor in Union Street in April 2002, yesterday failed to get his private hire licence reinstated.

Mr Morrison, of Clifton Close, Colebrook, Plympton, was appealing through the city's magistrates court against the refusal by the council's licensing committee in August to grant him such a licence on the grounds that he was 'not a fit and proper person' to hold one.

Philip Drinkwater, for the city council, told magistrates Mr Morrison had held a hackney carriage licence which he had tried to renew after his release from prison in January this year.

Mr Morrison had made the licensing committee aware of his conviction for manslaughter and they had agreed to his request. They also granted him a private hire licence when he applied for the change a few weeks later, the court heard.

But Mr Morrison didn't inform the committee he had previous convictions for violence or that a condition of his parole from prison meant he couldn't enter Union Street, magistrates heard.

Councillor Chris Mavin, chairman of the licensing committee, told the hearing that after these facts came to light the committee revoked Mr Morrison's licence in August.

Mr Morrison, 36, threw a single punch at David Taylor, who tried to calm a late-night brawl in Union Street in April 2002. The blow sent Mr Taylor to the floor where he struck his head, suffering fatal injuries.

Mr Morrison's solicitor Stephen Walker said that until a change in the law in 2002 the previous convictions between 1989-1991 would have been considered 'spent'. He added that he had answered all questions put to him by the licensing committee and had not concealed information.

Magistrates turned down the appeal saying they were not satisfied he was fit to hold a licence.