Cab firm’s licence granted in private
0 commentsPublished on 18 Mar 2010
The first hearing under a law designed to weed out criminal elements in the taxi trade has allowed a cab firm with shareholder links to the late crime lord Tam McGraw to continue trading.
In a private meeting, East Renfrewshire Council officials awarded Barrhead-based Compass Cabs a radio base licence after the firm’s lawyer, Paul McBride, QC, argued that a major shareholder with criminal associations was no longer connected to the company.
The last accounts of Compass Cabs show John “Joker” McCartney, who was the right-hand man of Tam “The Licensee” McGraw, as a 25% shareholder.
The other shareholders included Julie Malcolm, the ex-wife of Stevie Malcolm, who made millions after buying Glasgow Private Hire (previously Mac Cabs), from McGraw’s wife, and a Christopher McLean.
Ms Malcolm now owns 100% of the firm.
Strathclyde Police’s case was that the operations director of Compass Cabs, Derek Mullaney, was “not a fit and proper person” to hold the licence given the background of one or more of the shareholders.
Under the law, brought in last year, all taxi booking offices must be licensed.
Police carry out checks on firms, then recommend if they should be approved.
But firms do not need to reveal who their shareholders, which police see as a major loophole in the law.
East Renfrewshire’s decision to hold the meeting in private also raised concern.
A spokesman said this was because the application was likely to disclose information that was exempt from rules requiring meetings to be held in public.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/
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