Taxi Driver Online

Conman targets cabbies

Police are hunting a trickster fleecing taxi drivers out of thousands of pounds. The conman claims he can spirit away cabbies' fines and points for jumping red lights and breaking the speed limit.

Drivers of Hackney cabs or private hire cars in Bradford who get caught on camera driving through traffic lights on red or speeding - two of the most common motoring offences - are being told they can evade the standard £60 fines and three points on their licence if they hand over £200 to the trickster.

The authorities are worried that not only is the conman defrauding drivers but that he is also creating a more blase and dangerous climate on the roads if motorists think they can commit road offences then use non-existent loopholes to get out of collecting enough points to have their licences taken away.

Now a specialist police enforcement team that is familiar with tricks used to evade speeding penalties has teamed up with Bradford Council and taxi operators to put the conman out of business and spare cabbies from potentially serious consequences.

It is difficult for the team to know exactly how many drivers have been stung because many will not come forward and admit they are trying to evade the law.

But police believe the cost locally runs into thousands of pounds. And they generally find they are in more trouble than they would have been if they had simply taken the fine and the points.

"It's the cabbie who faces losing their Hackney or private hire licence and their driving licence, and who could lose their livelihood and face criminal prosecution, not the guy conning them into thinking that he can get them off a speeding fine," said Andy Galloway, the enforcement team's investigating officer.

Posters warning of the scam are now going up in Bradford Council's taxi licensing offices and information leaflets are being distributed to every one the county's 11,000 drivers.

The most common tactics used to evade a fine include putting down false addresses identified as "dead letter drops", saying someone else was driving, pretending not to know who was driving, claiming a foreign visitor was driving who has now returned to their home country or declaring the driver as someone who does not exist.

West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership's central process bureau received three identical letters in a week which used these tactics. The only difference in the standard letters, thought to have been drawn up by the conman, was that the names and reference numbers had been changed.

A spokesman for the partnership said the trickster had to be stopped. Mr Galloway added: "There is no way to get out of a speeding fine. "If you are a taxi driver and someone approaches you who says they can make your fine disappear in exchange for money, they are lying and trying to con you out of your hard earned money. Don't fall for it!"

CD Khalid, president of Bradford Hackney Carriage Owners' Association, said he was aware of the scam and urged cabbies not to fall for it. He said: "If you have committed an offence, go through the proper channels and don't ask anyone to try to get rid of your fines."

Police said any attempts to evade speeding fines are against criminal law and taxi licensing laws. They said it was an offence to supply false or incorrect information with a view to evading prosecution.

Speeding offences are supported by photographic evidence from speed control safety cameras. Nineteen more forward-facing cameras, which can clearly identify the driver, are being installed in West Yorkshire.

The Enforcement team's expertise in spotting false claims, coupled to stringent checking process, mean there is no hiding place for drivers caught speeding.

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IDFIMH

How the hell can you fleece a cabby out of hundreds pounds under a situation such as the one highlighted here?

A cab driver conspiring to pervert the course of justice by paying a third party to illegally make false representation is a criminal offence. These cab drivers are the ones that need their collar felt just as they did in Oldham when they had a similar scam going on up there.

The phrase "pounds for points" takes on a whole new meaning in this day and age as far as some people are concerned?

Regards

JD

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

I agree. Anyone engaging in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice is asking for trouble. And that's a lot more sh*t than a speeding fine!

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Remeber this?

Manchester Evening News

August 2, 2006 Wednesday

OLDHAM, Three more taxi drivers have been suspended as a result of a police operation into alleged speed-fine dodging.

They have all been banned temporarily from driving private hire vehicles after convictions for perverting the course of justice. Operation Hendon was launched by police into the alleged falsification of driver details when vehicles were caught by speed or traffic light cameras. Mohammed Bibi, 54, was suspended for 168 days; Khalid Mahmood, 33, for 56 days, and Zaffer Hussain, 27, for 28 days. The drivers, from Oldham, have 21 days to appeal against Oldham licensing panel's decisions.
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I suppose if you are caught up in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice like they were in Oldham then it might be convenient to invent a ficticious character on whom to place the blame? The situation in Bradford may concern some drivers who have been approached by an individual offering their illegal services but I don't for one minute believe that subscribers to TDO or anyone else for that matter will be taken in by the implausible notion that taxi drivers willingly gave money to a person or persons they didn't know in order to get them off motoring offences.

Regards

JD

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