Police will today make a new attempt to shut a cab firm which had shareholder links to the late crime lord Tam “The Licensee” McGraw, as Scotland’s largest force begins lobbying for the tightening up of legislation designed to weed out criminal elements in the taxi trade.
After securing an appeal through the Sheriff Courts, Strathclyde Police will again attempt to convince East Renfrewshire Council that criminal elements continue to profit from Barrhead-based Compass Cabs.
The last accounts of Compass Cabs show John “Joker” McCartney – a former binman who made his name as the right-hand man of McGraw – as a 25% shareholder, while other shareholders included Julie Malcolm, ex-wife of Stevie Malcolm, who has made millions from taxis after buying Glasgow Private Hire, previously known as Mac Cabs, from McGraw’s wife, and a Christopher McLean.
The police will again argue that the operations director of Compass Cabs, Derek Mullaney, is “not a fit and proper person” to hold the radio base licence given the background of one or more of the shareholders.
It comes as the force attempts to start talks with the Scottish Government over introducing legislation making it a requirement for applicant taxi firms to name shareholders when applying for a licence or when varying an existing one.
At the previous hearing into Compass, the firm’s legal representative, Paul McBride QC, argued that a major shareholder with criminal associations was no longer connected to the company. Malcolm now owns 100% of the firm.
Ironically, McBride was the first to publicly raise misgivings that the legislation did not include a requirement for the disclosure of shareholders.
The police are calling for all meetings of licensing sub-committees to be heard in public.
Although the force secured its appeal on technical grounds it did raise the issue of the
previous Compass hearing being held in private with the Sheriff Court at Paisley. However, an East Renfrewshire spokesman said today’s meeting would also be held in private.
He added: “Some of the
information presented includes intelligence about individuals and we won’t be publicly broadcasting that.
“Any information presented by police will be examined in detail and help to inform the decision of our councillors.”
Chief Constable Stephen House said: “We are turning up to licence hearings only to find they are being held in private. This is wrong. If someone wants to ask for a licence to run a company that provides a service to the public, then they should not be doing so behind closed doors.
“Let’s open up the process and make sure the public have the confidence of knowing licences are only going to people that deserve them.”
Leading licensing lawyers have told The Herald that article six of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that such hearings should be held in public, over-rides the Scottish legislation that allows for some exemptions within licensing committees, including personal and financial information. Of the 12 councils in the Strathclyde force area, only Glasgow, East and West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute hold their hearings in public.
In April, Glasgow-based
Network Private Hire, a target for police under the new laws, was denied an operator’s licence following police claims of
criminal links, just months after securing a £2m NHS contract.
The police successfully argued that a convicted criminal, who was a shareholder until last July, was continuing to profit from the company.
Several other firms have also fallen foul of the legislation.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We have received no approaches from licensing authorities regarding the introduction of legislation making it a requirement for applicant companies to name shareholders when applying for grant or variation of licences.
“Were such approach for legislative change to be made, we would give careful consideration to the merits of such change.”
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/crim ... -1.1035300
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