Taxi Driver Online

14 Mar 2008

Speeding cabbie gets reprieve

A speeding taxi driver held on to his licence after pleading exceptional
hardship in court.

Wigan cabbie John Hunter appeared before Wigan magistrates charged
with two offences of speeding.

Normally speeding cases are dealt with by way of a fixed penalty fine, but
Bill Pearson, defending, said Hunter was liable to be banned from the
roads under the totting up system as he already had six points on
his licence from previous speeding offences.

The court heard a traffic officer armed with a hand-held laser device
recorded Hunter travelling along Mesnes Street, Wigan, in a Ford Mondeo
at 45 mph in a 30 mph zone at 11pm on June 24 last year. On July 22 the
defendant was again caught recorded speeding at 40mph on a 30mph
restricted stretch of road in Warrington Road, Wigan.

Hunter, 53, of Belle Green Lane, Ince, was working as a taxi driver on
both occasions.
Mr Pearson said: "He already has six points on his licence so if he gets
three points for each of these offences he would be banned.

"I am asking you not to disqualify him although he has reached the
threshold because it would cause him exceptional hardship."

The court heard Hunter, who is previously of Westbury Avenue,
Winstanley, is married with two children but has separated from his wife.

The marital home has come under threat of repossession and he was
paying the mortgage payments. He was also paying off council tax arrears
for his family's home.

Mr Pearson said: "The house will be repossessed if he doesn't make
regular payments. The hardship a ban would cause is not just in respect of
Mr Hunter. There are also children and his partner involved and their
house is on the brink of being lost."

Hunter received nine penalty points for both speeding offences, but was
not disqualified from driving.
He was also fined £150 and ordered to pay £70 costs.

Source: Wigan Today
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The big question is do we want folks like him in the trade?

Would we rather he was booted out and taxpayers had to meet his bills?

Is there anyone (about from St Jimbo) that hasn't exceeded the speed limit on four occasions?

Angels we are not, but what's the answer?

_________________
IDFIMH

Apart from Jimbo I only know one other person who strictly conformed to speed limits. Needless to say there was always a long queue of traffic held up behind this driver which Inevitably caused traffic jams. It's not that difficult to get snapped on camera when someone is hiding behind a concealed entrance.

Incidents like this are probably more frequent than we imagine, the fact is that we hardly get to hear of them.

Regards

JD

_________________
Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

He'll lose his licence next time, and there will be a next time, won't there?

Please excuse me whilst I slip into smug mode.

The answer you are looking for Sussex, is kill your speed, not a child.

_________________
Former taxi driver

Sorry guys I cannot remember if this has been on before or not but it is worth looking at.


31 points - and still on the road


FREE: Englander at court.A SALESMAN has been allowed to carry on driving despite notching up a staggering THIRTY ONE penalty points on his licence.

Jeffrey Englander, 60, accumulated the points after committing a series of motoring offences, including speeding and failing to produce his insurance documents.

Drivers are usually disqualified when once they reach 12 points but Mr Englander is still on the road with nearly three times the limit after pleading “exceptional hardship”.

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He successfully argued that a driving ban would put his new business at risk and was given one last chance.

Mr Englander, of Prestwich, told the M.E.N: “I pleaded hardship and had a fantastic magistrate who let me off, I couldn’t believe it.”

Alarmed

Last night, road safety campaigners said they were “alarmed” that he had escaped a driving ban with so many points on his licence and called on the courts to take a harder line on motoring convictions.

Mr Englander, who represented himself when he appeared before Salford Magistrates’ Court, said: “The magistrate just said: ‘I’ll let you off this time’.

“I think I had spent a night in jail and maybe they felt sorry for me.

“I said I needed my car for my job and he said, on that occasion, they would let me off but if I got one more point I would be banned. “

He added: “I was very apologetic. You have to be very, very humble. The more they can see you are sorry, the more chance you have of getting off.

” I was very humble and also dressed respectfully.”

Loophole

Mr Englander returned to court on a charge of failing to produce insurance papers - but he escaped any more points when Manchester motoring law specialists firm Geoffrey Miller found a legal loophole.

Jeanette Miller, supervising solicitor at the company, said: “Mr Englander came to us with 31 points on his driving licence. I have never seen a driving licence like it.

“We put forward that this offence should have been dealt with at the same time as the other matters. That did not happen due to an administrative error. He would have received a further eight points, taking him up to 39 points. However, the court accepted our argument.”

Mr Englander said he has now mended his ways.

He said: “I’m not going to push things. I’m just driving very, very carefully now. I don’t need any more problems.”

Shocking

A spokeswoman for Brake, the national road safety charity, said: “Brake is very disappointed to hear that Mr Englander is still allowed to drive with a shocking 31 points on his licence.

“The magistrate’s justification of the ‘exceptional hardship’ Mr Englander would face if he lost his licence would be incomparable to a family’s loss if his continued dangerous driving caused a fatality.

“Legal loopholes must be closed and magistrates must use their full power to in punishing repeat offenders.”

A spokesman for Road Safety charity Roadpeace said: “I’ve never previously come across someone with such a number of points on their licence.

“We are alarmed that the court sees fit to allow this person to continue driving while he appears to have no qualms about flouting driving regulations.”

WHAT'S your view on this case? Have your say.


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View comments (54 comments. Last comment 21/02/2006 at 02:06)

_________________
if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

I wonder if he has informed his insurance??? and I wonder how he can still get insured without paying through the nose for it

Agreed, and the fact that he did not produce his documents begs the question......has he got insurance

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Why don't you get a proper job???