Taxi Driver Online

Cabbie Fuming About Smoking Fine

2nd September 2008

A taxi driver fined £315 for smoking inside his cab claims the case should not have gone to court in the first place.

John Goulding says he was perched on the edge of his cab with the door open and his feet on the ground when an off-duty council officer issued him with a fixed penalty notice.

He claims he had been making a roll-up cigarette and had taken one puff to make sure he'd rolled it properly when the officer approached him.

He says he was also un-aware that the case had gone to court as he hadn't received a letter from the authorities.

"I think it's absolutely scandalous," he said. "I know you're not supposed to smoke in your taxi and I wasn't doing that. Only my backside was on the sill."

"I was parked on the Monkey Rack at Greaves. This woman came over and said, 'I work for the council and I'm giving you a fixed penalty notice for smoking', but she didn't have a badge with her name on and no ID."

"A letter about the fixed penalty came to my old house. I wrote back saying I had not been smoking inside my cab and that I wasn't going to pay the fine. I said if there was to be any further contact, letters should be sent to my new address at Harcourt Road, on the Vale estate."

"My wife and I had a couple of days holiday in Blackpool and we came home to see the court case in all the local papers and on the internet."

"I didn't even know it was going to court."

Mr Goulding, who is no longer a taxi driver and is on benefits looking after his disabled wife and three-month-old daughter, says he doesn't have enough money to pay the fine.

"I'm not going to pay. I'll probably end up in jail."

He is now in the process of trying to have the case re-heard so that he can challenge the earlier findings. A spokesperson for Lancaster City Council said: "Prior to the Fixed Penalty Notice being issued, Mr Goulding was contacted by one of the council's licensing officers by telephone.

"He confirmed his address as Fleet Green in Lancaster and a Fixed Penalty Notice was hand-delivered to his address."

"When the 29-day payment period had ended, a further letter was sent to him offering an extension of 14 days."

"Correspondence was also issued regarding the court proceedings. None of these letters were returned as being undelivered and no further correspondence was received by the council from Mr Goulding relating to this issue."

"As with all cases where a defendant is absent from court, a determination needs to be made by the magistrates as to whether the case should proceed or be adjourned to give the defendant another opportunity to attend."

"Following representations made to the court by the prosecution, the court decided that the council had done all it could to contact Mr Goulding and allowed the case to proceed in his absence."

"Having heard the evidence, the court found the council's case proven and Mr Goulding guilty of the offence."


Source; Lakeland Echo

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

He's right there; that's where I found this story, the internet!!

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

If goes back to court and says he didn't receive any correspondence then the court will set aside the punishment and set a new trial date.

But if someone from the council rang him up.

_________________
IDFIMH

Court Day For Fuming Cabbie

5th September 2008

A Lancaster cabbie fined for smoking in his taxi is to have his court case heard again – as he didn't know it had happened in the first place.

John Goulding from Harcourt Road, returned from holiday to find details of his £315 bill in the newspapers.

Mr Goulding said: "My wife and I went away to Blackpool for a few days and the next thing I know it was in the papers saying I had been fined. I didn't receive any court dates."

An off-duty Lancaster City Council licensing officer issued Mr Gould-ing with a £50 fixed penalty notice after spotting him smoking in his taxi while parked in a bay at Belle Vue Terrace on May 31 this year.

He said: "I was sat making a roll-up with my feet on the ground outside and a bit of my backside on the seat in the cab.

"I was about to stand up when there was a woman saying she was from the council and that I was getting a fixed penalty for smoking in my taxi."

Mr Goulding added that he had spoken to the council informing them he would not pay the fixed penalty and that he had changed address. But the council sent a letter to Mr Goulding's previous address at Fleet Green and proceeded with a prosecution in his absence at Lancaster Magistrates' Court on Friday August 22. He was fined £175, and ordered to pay costs of £125 and a £15 victim surcharge.

Mr Goulding attended court on Wednesday to ask magistrates to re-open his case so he could have his say.

He said: "It's a grey area anyway. I had no customers in and where else are taxi drivers supposed to smoke if it is lashing down with rain?"

A council spokesman said: "Mr Goulding confirmed his address as Fleet Green and a fixed penalty notice was hand delivered to his address. Correspondence was also issued about the court proceedings.

"None of these letters was returned undelivered and no further correspondence was received from Mr Goulding. The court decided the council had done all it could to contact him and allowed the case to proceed in his absence."

"The court found Mr Goulding guilty of the offence. He has now made a declaration, sworn under oath, that he did not receive the summons and was unaware of the proceedings. The case will be reopened and a hearing will take place on a date yet to be determined."


Source; Lakeland Echo

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

He must have listened to you, Mr Sussex.

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

gulity by admission then m'lud

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Off duty officer, no ID, on her own, there must be 2 of them , not in uniform, = here say

The driver was doing everything correct by having the door open with his feet on the floor there by not smoking in an enclosed place. just like he is doing in his photo
thats what most drivers do here with the blessing of the environmental health officers.
Have a look outside some of the pubs and clubs you will see people sitting on the pub or club steps in the doorways especially when its raining

no, they went to his old address?

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

From time to time some do, alas not enough do likewise.

_________________
IDFIMH

The council will have the right hump over this as they will never be able to re-claim the costs from the first hearing, which could be several hundred pounds, not the £125 the court originally gave.

What he should have done is to keep his mouth shut, not spouting off that he wasn't in the car or he had no punters, just kept it shut.

_________________
IDFIMH

So, was his backside on the sill, or the seat, (or both)?

Was the ciggy in his mouth or his backside?

Which orifice does he normally talk out of?

Whether or not he had a punter in is irrelevant.

Whether or not it was raining is also irrelevant.

The law on this is NOT a grey area.

Still, he can have his day in court, where he probably will represent himself, where he will no doubt demonstrate that he has an idiot for a client.

_________________
Former taxi driver

I suppose we will get a Magistrates version of what constitutes smoking inside a vehicle and we might be a little wiser but then again, perhaps we won't?

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.

For £315 I would have taken the lie down. He would have been out in a week.


Is it a civil or criminal matter if you refuse to pay the fine?

_________________
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

Its a civil one

I got a parking fine for £60 after parking incorrectly in a parking space. I'd paid the ticket but one of my wheels was on the grid instead of inside. I phone them up and told them to shove it. I said: I'd rather be locked up than pay the fine .The girl on the phone replied that it was a civil matter and all they would do is arrest my bank account.

Boy was I pis*ed off . . . .

_________________
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"