Taxi Driver Online

Indy march organiser jailed for ignoring council order gets private hire driving ban



A SCOTTISH independence campaigner who was jailed after ignoring council orders has been banned from driving private hires.

Mandeep Singh’s licence was suspended for two weeks following a complaint from Police Scotland.

In May 2019, he refused to change the start time of an All Under One Banner march through Glasgow.

Mr Singh was later sentenced to 72 days in prison after pleading guilty to holding a procession not in accordance with council conditions.

Glasgow City Council had asked for the event to start at 11am due to concerns over public safety and city centre congestion.

The march, which began at 1.30pm, also did not follow the route set out by the council.

His solicitor Michael Gallen told licensing chiefs how the incident was a “matter of deep regret” for his client.

He said it was an “isolated” incident which was “entirely out of character” and Mr Singh had been “punished severely”, serving six weeks of the sentence.

“He now finds himself in a situation where his very livelihood is in the balance,” he added.

Four character references were also submitted to the licensing committee.

Mr Singh said a “last minute” decision by the council meant “people wouldn’t be able to rebook their tickets that they’d already paid for”.

“We never put anyone at risk,” he added, saying he followed Police Scotland orders on the day.

Tens of thousands of people took part in the march, which started in Kelvingrove Park.

Labour councillor Aileen McKenzie had called for a four-week suspension, but the two-week ban was decided following a vote.

She said: “The purpose of the committee is to determine whether or not the applicant is a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

“Regardless of the explanation Mr Singh gave over his conviction for holding the All Under One Banner March at a time he had not been given permission from the council to do, there were still other issues pertaining to the fact he did not disclose his conviction and subsequent incarceration to the licensing department.”

This was a “clear breach” of the conditions of his licence, she added.

Mr Gallen had said his client had organised “as many as 15 similar events” across Scotland and “fully complied with all the conditions”.

“They have involved the coming together of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, who have enjoyed the events and enjoyed them in a peaceful fashion.”

He said the incident had no “direct relevance” to his job as a private hire driver.

Licensing committee chairman Alex Wilson said: “We expect our drivers not to get imprisoned.

“We expect them to carry out their duties without having any background that is going to cause the committee any cause for alarm.”

Mr Wilson, an SNP councillor, seconded Bailie Malcolm Balfour’s call for a two-week suspension.

Ms McKenzie, seconded by Councillor Philip Charles, suggested a four-week ban. The vote was split, giving a casting vote to the chairman, Mr Wilson.

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IDFIMH

SNP councillors punishing an SNP sympathiser


I think the problem here is he didn't really do anything which would make him not fit and proper but he did break the law

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I've no sympathy for anyone that broke the law purely on political grounds.....he knew what the laws were and he thought he knew better.

Well maybe he didn't disclose it, but it was the licensing department who reported him for prosecution, and his imprisonment was all over the papers, so it's not as if they didn't know

Not sure how relevant it is, but there's a subtext to all of this, and it's the good old Salmond v Sturgeon thing, roughly speaking.

Sturgeon and the SNP 'modernisers' don't like these marches, because they don't think thousands of people waving Scottish flags and closing city centres down every few Saturdays is a good look to attract middle ground voters.

Well known conspiracy theorist Craig Murray is a high profile Salmond supporter, and also says he's a friend of Manni Singh. He wrote this about Manni's jail sentence last year. It's quite a short piece (by Murray's standards) and provides a bit of background to the political subtext to the marches, and thus to Manni's jail term.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives ... nstration/

In fact, Craig Murray was charged with contempt of court in relation to stuff he's written about the Salmond criminal trial, and was tried a few weeks ago. As far as I'm aware he's still waiting for the verdict

Of course, that's more about the wider stuff, but all the shenanigans that have gone on might give some indication as to why Manni was jailed. Of course, the march had nothing to do with the Salmond trial, but all this stuff is maybe better seen in the wider political context.

I mean, only last week David Davis MP used parliamentary privilege to reveal more about the Salmond case than would be allowed up here (parliamentary privilege - basically, you can say what you want in the Westminster parliament without any fear of legal repercussions, but that doesn't apply to the Scottish Parliament).

And police are apparently questioning David Davis about the source of the leak he got the information from.

And apparently the Crown Office (roughly Scotland's CPS) are threatening the Spectator magazine and the Guido Fawkes blog with regard to some of the Salmond inquiry evidence they put online.

So it's all very messy, and you have to be a bit careful what you say

But anyone down south who may have not heard a very pro-Salmond account of what's happening could do worse than have a watch of this Youtube video that Craig Murray put up a couple of days ago, which outlines the claimed conspiracy against Salmond, and also stuff in the trial that was little reported.

But whatever you make of what he says, not difficult to work out why the legal authorities take huge interest in what he has to say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8NjRSUkkWE

Of course, a lot of the legal action etc is related to the woman complainers in the Salmond trial, who can't be publicly identified, although their identities (or at least some of them) are well known.

Another of Craig Murray's friends also threatened to name the women, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has also had his collar felt.

Oddly enough, he's also been mentioned on this forum a couple of times in relation to the Dundee taxi trade. It's a strange old world

But that did make him not fit and proper.

By coincidence, and for what it's worth, it looks like the driver's pal Craig Murray has lost his contempt of court case regarding Salmond's criminal trial, and according to this article the sentencing process suggests that he may be going to jail.

Which is maybe getting a bit away from the trade, but it just underlines why I've never trusted local politicians on licensing committees. All the Salmond stuff is a bit higher up the food chain, but it all just demonstrates how political a lot of this kind of stuff is

A lot of the legal stuff is supposedly about protecting the identities of the women who complained about Salmond, but it's pretty obvious that it's also being used as a pretext to stop a lot of the cock-up/conspiracy stuff coming out


Craig Murray loses contempt of court case over reports of Alex Salmond trial

A FORMER diplomat has instructed his lawyers to begin preparations for an appeal to the Supreme Court after learning he had lost a contempt of court case over his reports from the trial of Alex Salmond in March last year.

Craig Murray, the former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, attended two days of the trial – at which Salmond was found innocent – and sat in the public gallery, later writing about it for his blog.

However, in January he faced a virtual contempt of court hearing before Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk, at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh.

It is now understood that a session for judgement to be delivered will be held at the High Court before Lady Dorrian, Lord Turnbull and Lord Menzies on Thursday – exactly eight weeks after the initial 90-minute hearing.

Sources close to Murray, 62, indicated that he was advised by court staff and his legal team that if he won the case, the judgement would simply be published.

However, if he lost, and particularly if a custodial sentence was probable, there would be a new hearing of the court – which has now been called.

Contempt of court carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison and an unlimited fine.

Last month, Clive Thomson, a 52-year-old from Rosyth, was jailed for six months for contempt in the same case.

Murray is expected to stand as a candidate for Action for Independence (AFI) on the Lothians list in May’s Holyrood election.

However, if sentenced to a year or more in jail, he will be disqualified from standing.

Murray was accused of contempt over publications likely to influence the jury and with jigsaw identification of complainants.

His defence argued that if the Crown believed these were likely to influence the jury, then action should have been taken before the trial and not after.

On jigsaw identification, his counsel, John Scott QC, argued that Murray had known the identity of all the complainants for months and had taken care not to give them away.

He argued: “[Murray] was aware of the names of the complainers, even when there was no court order regarding them. But he said it would not be responsible journalism to have named them.

“The Crown appears to say there must be a deliberate campaign to drop enough hints so that the complainers can be identified.

“There is a great deal of evidence showing he was not someone who was fixated on naming the complainers and dropping hints to identify.

“The fact alone is that he knew about the names and if he wanted to name them, he could have done so.”

In the two months between the hearing and judgement, he has said on social media that the delay was taking a toll on his family and on his mental health.

One member of the Murray family told The National: “Objective evidence shows that mainstream media published far more jigsaw identification pieces than Craig and were not prosecuted.”

Asked how Murray felt about the possibility of being jailed, they said: “Well, obviously not happy.

“Nadira and he have a one-month-old son and he’s not in good health nor getting any younger.

“But never underestimate his commitment and principle – he is a lot tougher than he looks.”

the same as people convicted of GBH kidnap drink driving …

…it's quite a long list

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

It was presumably relevant that it was a breach of licensing conditions (as regards marches) that led to the prosecution and then the jail sentence.

I think there's maybe a separate committee (or sub-committee) for licensing marches and processions, and it seems probable that many of the same councillors who decided the marching stuff are also deciding the taxi and PH stuff.

So that's no doubt all relevant, and to that extent he's maybe gotten off pretty lightly, and the punishment here seems a token one

Or not as the case maybe.

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IDFIMH

Good luck with that.

He is one of the brightest MPs in the UK so he wouldn't do anything that would have repercussions.

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IDFIMH

So Mannie Singh's pal Craig Murray sentenced to eight months in jail for contempt of court in relation to the Salmond trial.

Obviously getting a bit away from the trade, but just goes to show you should be careful what you say online, particularly in relation to court cases etc

Murray is 61 and has serious health conditions, apparently. As the article states, he was originally given 48 hours to hand himself in to a police station, but sentence has been deferred for three weeks pending appeal.


Ex-diplomat Craig Murray sentenced to eight months in prison over Alex Salmond trial blog posts

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/7 ... hs-prison/

A FORMER UK ambassador has been sentenced to eight months in jail for contempt of court over articles written about Alex Salmond.

Craig Murray was previously found guilty over pieces he wrote about the Alba leader's sexual harassment allegations court case.

He was today sentenced and now faces eight months behind bars.

Murray was initially told he had 48 hours to hand himself in, but his QC Roddy Dunlop asked for permission to launch an appeal and indicated they will take the case to the Supreme Court.

Judge Lady Dorrian agreed to defer the sentence for three weeks to allow for the appeal

The former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan attended two days of Mr Salmond's trial in March 2020, sitting in the public gallery, and wrote about it on his website.

In March, a court ruled his coverage could have led to the identification of Mr Salmond's complainers, not named for legal reasons.

The former First Minister was cleared at the High Court in Edinburgh of 13 sexual assault charges involving nine women following his trial.

At the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh Judge Lady Dorrian said: "The courts have concluded that having regard to the context in which the articles appeared, including the terms of the article January 18 and the tweet on January 19, that the articles of 11, 18, 19 March, 3 April and the tweet of 2 April, must be considered to constitute contempt of court, relating to material capable of identifying four different complainers.

"We therefore make a finding of contempt of court.

"The reasons for that will be issued in full in due course."

Murray's lawyer John Scott QC said: "Steps will be taken immediately to communicate the detail of what has been found in contempt of court.

"In anticipation, despite not having seen the opinion of the court or being aware of the court's conclusions, the respondent took down his blog page yesterday."

Mr Scott said 61-year-old Murray's partner had given birth in February this year to their son, which would be factored into the social work report ahead of sentencing.

Murray faces up to two years in prison under the Contempt of Court Act.

A further hearing will take place on May 7.

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IDFIMH

Some stuff on Murray's blog about his health conditions. Funnily enough, the AUOB marches referred to here are the ones organised by private hire driver Mannie Singh above, which resulted in his jail sentence. As regards his wife's pregnancy, note his point here about over-exertion. I'm saying nothing





Anyways, his wife is only 40, and he's obviously not firing blanks, despite his health conditions




Maybe those south of the border not as familiar with Craig Murray's er, colourful history as us up here, and mabye this from 2007 is a tad salacious, but:

The squalid truth about Our Man in Uzbekistan and his belly dancer lover

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... lover.html


To be fair, after the thick end of two decades they're still together and now living in Edinburgh, as far as I'm aware