Private hire drivers fined for illegal pick ups in Gloucester
PRIVATE hire drivers have paid the price for illegally picking up fares from the streets.
Nine drivers have been fined after a police sting operation in February.
Plain clothes officers were used to prove drivers were breaking the law.
Private hire drivers can only take pre-booked fares, with Hackney carriage drivers allowed to pick up on the street.
At a hearing at Gloucester Magistrates Court on Friday, Sydney Edmond, Anthony Hamblin, Mark Hawkins, Mohammed Ismail, Mohamed Issak, Mustafizur Rahman, Anwar Ali, Amadou Diallo and Abdul Choudhury were all fined.
Magistrates were told by Gloucester City Council legal representative Steve Isaac that on February 26 and 27, all nine were found to be "plying for hire" in Gloucester.
Plain clothes officers approached them all, asking if they could take them to Quedgeley, Abbeydale or Barnwood.
Mr Isaac said: "The council sees its license holders as being in a position of trust."
Hamblin, of Gilbert Road, Longlevens, was handed a £300 fine, and was ordered to pay £200 costs and £15 victim surcharge, despite expressing remorse.
Edmond, 76, from Billingham Close, Gloucester, was fined £250, and ordered to pay £200 costs and a £15 surcharge. Diallo, 45, of Dinely Street, was fined £50, with £15 surcharge and £100 costs.
Ismail, 29, from Ryecroft Street, argued that a lot of the facts in the cases were "quite wrong".
He said: "The statements by the police do conflict with each other.
"When I was approached I was on the phone to the operator and asked if I could take the passengers."
He was fined £160, and ordered to pay £50 towards costs and a £15 surcharge.
Ali, 38, from Bloomfield Road, did not appear in court and was fined £350, with £200 costs and a £15 surcharge.
Choudhury, of Farm Street, sent a guilty plea by post and was fined £260. He will pay full costs.
The most severe fine was handed to 47-year-old Mark Hawkins, from Hester's Way Lane in Cheltenham.
Magistrates heard the driver, who is licensed by Cheltenham Borough Council, agreed to take officers to Quedgeley. Chairman of the bench Dorothy Carson said his offence warranted a higher fine because drivers registered in other areas were banned from plying for hire in any circumstances.
He was fined £515, and ordered to pay the full costs and surcharge
Issak, 55, of Goodyere Street Tredworth, sent a letter with a statement to Magistrates pleading guilty.
He said: "I'm very sorry about this mistake from which I have learned a lot."
Rahman, 34, also from Tredworth was asked to pay a fine of £235 and ordered to pay £200 costs and the £15 surcharge.
Andrew Gravells, cabinet member for housing and health said: "I hope these fines send out a loud message this kind of illegal activity will not be tolerated in Gloucester."
source:
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/
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