Taxi Driver Online

Overcharge taxi driver may lose his licence

A BURY taxi driver has been fined for overcharging and faces the prospect of losing his licence.

Shanawaz Raja (41) of Heywood Street, Bury, was fined £300 and ordered to pay £300 costs and £1.50 compensation after being convicted by Bury magistrates.

Raja charged a passenger £6.90 for the 2.3-mile journey, when the fare should have been between £5.20 and £5.40. During a trial, Raja gave the bench differing accounts of the route he took and claimed not to have looked at his meter or counted the money he was given for the journey.

His taxi driver's licence was suspended by Bury Council during the court proceedings, despite his appeals to the magistrates' court and to the crown court which approved the council's actions.

The court heard that Raja is still paying the costs of those failed appeals, and told him that the fines imposed for overcharging must be paid in addition to the payments he is making towards those costs.

Raja will now face a hearing before Bury Council's licensing and safety panel to determine whether he is a fit and proper person to hold a Hackney Carriage Driver's Licence.

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IDFIMH

Bury have meters so either the driver took the passenger on a route that prolonged the journey or he charged the passenger a fare off the meter or he asked for more than what was showing on the meter. If he charged the passenger what was on the meter but took a long way round then the offence shouldn't have been overcharging because he has only charged what was on the meter. He should have been charged under section 69.

69 Prolongation of journeys (1) No person being the driver of a hackney carriage or of a private hire vehicle licensed by a district council shall without reasonable cause unnecessarily prolong, in distance or in time, the journey for which the hackney carriage or private hire vehicle has been hired.

If he blatently charged other than what was on the meter then he deserves all he gets.

Regards

JD

Or put it on early.

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IDFIMH

Yes some people dont always check whats on the meter but normally hires under those circumstances only come about from pre booked jobs and not ones that are flagged down in the street or hired from a rank.

Regards

JD

£1.50p?

Waiting time around here is in the region of 25p every 2 minutes, I wonder if?

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

It should be remembered that this driver can appeal to the crown court and I assume thats what he will do. Unless of course he actually did overcharge the person under circumstances that are illegal?

I'll get to the bottom of it Before Monday night.

Regards

JD

I think to be honest there must be something else here, maybe there's a history of complaints?

regards

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

I agree there must be more to this and we are fishing around in the dark trying to come up with both the question and the answer? If I venture into Bury this evening I'll see if anyone knows the facts.


Regards

JD

If you don't mind.

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IDFIMH

lol I'll do my best.

Regards

JD

I don't believe it, there has to be more

£1.50 overcharged, who's accussing who, what proof is there, can't just be one person they believe [the punter]

we have all done these jobs when the punter knows the exact fare, but some forget [with drink] when they have got say another with them and the journey is deviated to drop them off, when you get to the end of the journey thay say chuffing heck I only usually pay so and so, how come its more

do I have to explain and your trying to make me look like a [edited by admin]

not only that the punter knows best, I wanner go this way

A few years ago I picked up this family, wanted to go to an hotel [they didn't live here] as I moved off the rank,[I could only turn left to get off the rank], the bloke next to me accussed me of going the long way round, he said to me yes your going the long way round,

he said your ripping us off, hey only gone 5 yards off the rank, so I booted em out, they took my number to report me

they got into another cab, the cab sat for 5 minutes, then went

when I caught up the driver of the cab he told me this, they wanted to have the cab driver go through the foot streets where cabs aren't allowed

the driver told the passengers, hey that guy the driver whom you got into his cab was right in taking you the way he went, they sent an appoggy via the driver to me, but he got a 2 quid tip.

On the few occasions a customer has told me, "you're going the wrong way", this is tantamount to an emergency stop. If the destination is confirmed as I understood it, and this is an attitude problem rather than a genuine complaint, then this punter is walking.

It's much better to deal with it in this way than have to get to the end of the trip only to be met with a refusal to pay by a belligerent punter and all that comes of that. We can't win these situations. The authorities will always take the side of the customer, whether there is corroboration or not, and they will deal with you in the most draconian way they choose.

I can't help but think there's more to this case than meets the eye. I'd be interested to know what defence was put up and why it failed?

Maybe he just accidentally put his meter on to tariff 2

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Yes, I call that excuse "fingerslip" a chronic disease, in some cases.

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Former taxi driver

So for £1.50 this guy could lose his livlihood,why not hang draw and quarter him??? Is this overkill or not??Wonder if he wasnt asian hed get the same treatment??effing outrageous surely the punishment must match the crime,given that hes guilty. i bet he wasnt represented.How many BNP councillors on the Council???So much for BRITISH JUSTICE!
ORGANISE EDUCATE AGITATE!!!

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The views expressed by this contributor do not neccesarily reflect the policys of The GMB Nationally or of the GMB London Region.