Taxi Driver Online

Incident not job, by the looks of it, but he's gone anyway


Private hire driver in Glasgow tried to hit man with 'baseball bat'

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/sco ... eball-bat/

A private hire driver who attempted to hit a man with a “baseball bat” has had his licence renewal bid turned down.

Joseph Kinloch was ordered to carry out 90 hours of community service after he was convicted following an incident in September 2019.

A Police Scotland representative told Glasgow’s licensing committee how Mr Kinloch did “repeatedly attempt” to strike a man “with a baseball bat on the body”.

He was also found to have an “offensive weapon, namely a baseball bat” in a public place “without reasonable excuse”, the officer said. Mr Kinloch’s solicitor later said the item had been a “baton”.

Councillors were told he had reacted to “significant” provocation as the victim had previously abused a family member of the driver.

The committee was split over whether to renew Mr Kinloch’s licence, but a casting vote from the chairman, Cllr Alex Wilson, meant the application was refused.

Mr Kinloch’s solicitor said his client had pled guilty to a “reduced charge” of “an attempt to assault” and had faced a “substantial degree of provocation”.

“I’m not saying that paints him in a particularly good light,” he added. “But this was not an assault which occasioned any permanent harm to the complainer.”

He said the complainer was “previously in a relationship” with a family member of Mr Kinloch and there had been “domestic abuse”. This caused Mr Kinloch “some considerable disquiet”, the committee was told.

The solicitor said the driver had met the complainer “quite by chance” on the day of the incident. There was an argument, he said, but added his client “did not use the item” and there was “no harm to the complainer”.

Mr Kinloch had shown “considerable remorse” and was assessed, in a criminal justice social work report, as being at “low risk” of re-offending, councillors heard.

Since the offence, he has continued working “without any issues whatsoever”, his solicitor said. He has been employed in “the taxi business for 31 years”. “This is the only blemish on his character,” the solicitor added.

Cllr Wilson said: “I know quite a lot about sport in Glasgow; which baseball team does Mr Kinloch play for?”

The applicant’s solicitor said the item was a “baton” but added his client had said he had kept a baseball, baseball bat and glove in his car for use by his children.

Cllr Wilson said: “He bumped into the other person by chance, and just by chance, he just so happens to have in his hand a baton?”

The solicitor said the driver, who hadn’t been working at the time, had gone back to his car. He said it was an “unthinking action” and “out of character at a time of heated emotion”.

Cllr Wilson said he was concerned that there “could be further remonstration with members of the public”. The solicitor said that was a “leap too far” and Mr Kinloch would not have been in court but for the complainer’s behaviour towards the driver’s family member.

Bailie Jim Kavanagh said: “Domestic abuse of a family member brings considerable strain on the family from whichever background they came from. In the heat of the moment, no one can say what they’re going to do because you never know until you’re in the moment.”

He added: “Everybody deserves chances in life and it’s our job to make these decisions.”

Cllr Wilson and Cllr Zen Ghani voted to refuse the application while Bailie Kavanagh and Bailie Thomas Kerr voted to renew the licence for a restricted period of one year and issue a “severe warning”.

Cllr Wilson’s casting vote meant the licence bid was refused.

Aye, right


I can see why a PHD in Glasgow might keep some sort of weapon in his car, and I don't believe his excuse.

On the other hand, 31 unblemished years in the trade, and that's all down the pan? And if the licensing convener's flippant comment isn't grounds for appeal, it should be

_________________
IDFIMH

Why on earth have an even number of councillors deciding these matters?

Have three or five FFS.

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IDFIMH

So he was refused a renewal last year, but has been granted a new badge this year

And the convener is in lecture mode again...maybe interesting in terms of the standard of proof required that he was convicted of a criminal offence 'beyond reasonable doubt'. But he claims he didn't do it, so I suppose the committee could in theory say that on the 'balance of probabilities' they believe him?


Glasgow private hire driver who attempted assault with 'bat' gets new licence

https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glas ... o-29140311

The applicant had previously been refused a licence renewal but was granted a new licence by four votes to two. He was also given a severe warning.

A private hire driver who attempted to assault a man with a “baseball bat” has been granted a new licence to work in the city.

Joseph Kinloch had a bid to renew his licence rejected last year - but has now been handed a new one despite an objection by Police Scotland.

Mr Kinloch told councillors he had attempted to attack his “sister’s tormentor” with a “baton” during an incident in September 2019.

He said he had recently received bad news about his mother’s health, which gives “an idea of the frame of mind I was in”.

Licensing chiefs voted four to two in favour of granting the applicant a restricted one-year licence. They also issued a “severe warning”.

Police Scotland had argued he was “not a fit and proper person” due to the incident where he “did assault a named witness and did repeatedly attempt to strike him with a baseball bat to the body”.

Mr Kinloch was ordered to carry out 90 hours of community service following the conviction.

He told the committee that he was driving down a street when he “saw walking up the street with his new girlfriend, my sister’s tormentor”.

“A man who had given her a slap, a man who was texting her and threatening her,” he added.

The applicant said he pulled over and took out the baton, disputing the police report that it was a “baseball bat”.

Mr Kinloch said he “did attempt to attack him but as you see what the charge says it is attempted to strike with a baseball bat”. He added: “I didn’t hit her, I didn’t assault her. That makes me as bad as he is.”

He added he intended to plead not guilty but “made the mistake of listening to my lawyer” who said “if I plead guilty I would get the minimum”.

Cllr Alex Wilson, SNP, who chairs the licensing committee, said: “Ultimately you were convicted, there’s no doubt about that. You are saying you took the wrong advice from your solicitor and plead guilty.

“If I felt I wasn’t guilty of something, there is absolutely no way I would say I was guilty of anything. Regardless of what any lawyer tells me.”

Mr Kinloch replied: “In many ways I was still guilty as I did attempt to.”

Cllr Wilson said the incident had been “premeditated”. “You didn’t just happen to have that bat sitting beside you, you went into your boot, you removed the item, you still attempted to assault.”

He added: “I’m not here to defend the other person, and I think violence against any woman is absolutely abhorrent. What I will say is that you still went into the boot of your car, you received an item and you attempted to assault someone, giving your own form of retribution.”

Mr Kinloch told the committee: “This is an incident from five years ago. I never stepped out of line previously and I haven’t stepped out of line since. I would appreciate your honours taking that into account.”

Cllr Wilson, backed by Bailie Leodhas Massie, Greens, suggested the application should be refused, but Cllr Eunis Jassemi, Labour, and Cllr Sean Ferguson, SNP, moved to grant the licence. It passed by four votes to two.

Maybe I've missed or misread something in the narrative, but who's this 'her' that he's on about?

And it looks like one of those where he lost his renewal application in early 2023, so looks like he'd been badged and driving for more than three years after the incident, but only then they wouldn't renew his badge, although it's not clear when precisely he was convicted (no doubt lockdown could have delayed the case...).