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CABBIES with serious criminal convictions are being allowed to work across the North East.
A Chronicle probe has revealed more than 100 taxi drivers with criminal records have been granted hackney cab licences.
Licences were issued to drivers with convictions for firearms offences, indecent assault, dangerous driving, harassment, theft and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
A total of 101 licences were granted to drivers with past convictions or cautions after compulsory Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks.
It was interesting to see in the Evening Chronicle that North Tyneside had zero criminals working as Taxi Drivers until you read that they only provided figures for the last 7 months.
It is also interesting that Taxis only seem to get this ‘Bad Press’ at a time of year when we are hoping to be busy but it just goes to show that yet again the people that Licence us have let us down once more.
When Licensing is asked , time & time again, for help with various trade matters the answer always come back “our duty is to the travelling public” but this story shows that behind the scenes they are letting down the public aswell as us. Why has North Tyneside only given 7 Months of figures? what are they hiding? Some Councils even spouted the Data protection act but what about freedom of information? This is just one more thing that shows what a useless bunch oversee Taxi licensing in this Country!
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
@richie,
it will ONLY get worse.
joe public with less disposible income = less nights out.
the more joe public’s get made redundant, and unable to get another job, the more turn to taxi driver to try and earn a living to keep the house etc etc …
while all along the large office’s and LA’s just keep trying to keep convince us that ‘we have never had it better’ and shaft us ALL for more money.
firstly,
that article by the chronicle was nothing short of a advertising campaign by NODA taxis. This is about the third article that I have seen alone in the decembers chronicle with Mr. Sulliman giving his or NODAS views.
it is nothing short of trying to force people into PH cars over the, what we ALL knew was going to be a very bad, festive period.
secondly,
i to would like to see the dates of these offences, how far back to they go, or in what circumstances were they. I know one lad who DEFENDED himself when he was attacked by a passenger, only to be charged with using excessive force! And many things account to a firearms charge, cs gas for example. To lets all not start kidding ourselves that every other taxi driver is charles bronson! Yes there is some unsavoury characters in the taxi trade, but its the same in the police.
thirdly,
Ian, plain and simple, you recuruited the way you did due to cost, it saved you money and you stood to gain more by doing so. And if someone chooses to spend his money on tabs, booze and the odd bet, its his money, does this not come under leisure. So by your saying we should all just cover our bills as taxi drivers? NO leisure allowed? I dont smoke, rarely drink, and dont have an awfull lot left over after paying bills! What i do know is i had a lot more left over 4 years ago! What i do know is that offices have been flooded with drivers, who struggle to make money through the system, and come looking into city centres to steal HC work. What would you do Ian if you were a driver not making the money? And dont say there at the wrong office, myself a lansdown and BLT were sitting on New year at 6.30 and neither had any work.
are you lot just going to bite and scratch !! the lot of you sound like a right bunch of schoolchildren!!! incase u havent noticed !!! there is a full blown rescession on thats heading for a depression !!! nut tha gov have only just accepted/admitted there is a prob !!! we have all !!known about for the last three years!!!this is not a pop at mr shanks but the big n/east firms just want more and more drivers in cars more rent etc !!! i dont work for b/line am a ph driver in newcastle !!!where we have around 190 cars free to do any shift they like!! therefore x amount cars sitting around on a friday night !!!!! the plane truth is there is not the money around there used to be and there is more of us fighting over it !!! bline ecoast ace lansdowne are all doing the same making sure there bills are paid whilst we all fight over wots left !! wot else can we do ?? just stop fighting between ourselves ..yes some people have done things we dont like but bitching and scratching the way u lot on here are !! your just boling each others p**s this website says too many taxis !!! some idiots on here are just empire building !!! get the council to sort all unlicensed cabs we have all seen the mass exoudus from town when enforcement come out even thoo they do very very little !! yet the honest ones amongst us get the hammers yet the REAL bandits not just from berwick !!! no how to play the system
Stephen your comment about “there is no shortage of drivers” have you tried to recruit any yourself ??
i found myself some two years ago very short of drivers, and also found that the attraction to someone who was unemployed to become a taxi driver was none existent due to the barriers and expense they faced to be a licenced driver. this process would take them some months and at great expense to someone who may well have been on benefit’s.
So myself and Mr Irwin travelled to Prague after hearing about a school training drivers for the UK taxi and PH market. i personally had huge reservations about this but came back ‘turned upside down and inside out’ by the standard and dedication of people i met to get of there arses travel from their home countries of Poland and the Slovak that i then followed this particular class of trainees when they had arrived in the UK and started work to see how they got on and settled.
I was amazed (and still am) at the passion and dedication they showed to work and please people who offered them the simply right to be proud to earn a living for them selves.
i have seen and heard of people who have exploited them and thing this is wrong i offer them a position to earn money the same as i do any other driver being, and have been rewarded with a great service from them. i will not say we have not experienced some difficulty’s from them not knowing the area as well as you may feel they should, but if i got a English driver come to the area from Leeds for example he would have the same problems.
i have heard many horror storeys about these drivers going up one way streets and in no entry’s etc but have little complaints from customers that has caused us concern of any major worry.
we have to date about 15 EU drivers who have now worked in this area for a minimum of 12 months and more and i have no further problems.
i would like to see more interest from local English applicants and in the current climate may well get them. But i have nothing but praise for someone who has left so much behind such as family and friends and faced racism and abuse to simply make money for their family’s. I wonder if we would do the same if the roles were reversed ? maybe we have been very lucky in this country i don’t know but i for one can not knock them and dont think anyone else should !
come on lads why do you always shift the blame on foreigners when things are not rosy. most of you are victims of the tabloids who are discrediting some good hard working people who leave their families behind and their countries to contribute to the development of this country.did you not know that most of our drivers are at risk from some punters( you do not know who gets in your car)there is more to come since the credit crunch?… povrety is the mother of all crimes?I wish I had the tamil tiger training to look after myself.as for the pols take a good picture of their services because they will all leave GB 2012 when they join the Euro. did you not know who were the migrants of europe in Germany in the seventies … ask Jimmy nail pet..
Mr Shanks!
I have digged Berwick Council myself, only because I was once a Badge Holder, so I knew a little more than the Critics, especially the ones who think Berwick does not carry out a CRB!.
Personally I have’nt raved on about Newcastle Council, not many NT Lads have, Reason…..
Because NT Private Hire Offices carry out a lot of work in Town, that does’nt say much for the Toon Boys, your Lads do loads up there, Central, Eastcoast and other Coastal firms do all the set fares back to the Coast normally ranging from £11.00 (Central) to £11.50 (Eastcoast).
The reasons why people people use NT offices up there are ..
a/ Price b/ Ethinicity of the Toon Hack Drivers c/ Toon Hacks not knowing how to get to Tynemouth, but still commanding a high fare!
That’s the customers opinions anyway…..And I agree with some!!!
So it’s only the British Toon Hacks that beef their Council up!
And that Mohammed from Noda calling people with documentation offences “Crooks” makes me laugh, I wonder does he ever go to the Central Station?????
Happy New Year to you all!
well for those that have had their go at Berwick and praised the standards of Newcastle and other North East councils and their quality control
“WHO’S LAUGHING NOW”
On a serious note this just shows that the councils talk a good talk but in reality they haven’t got a clue !!
These are the people that sit in rooms and tell us our rights and wrongs and have the nerve to treat us, sometimes like serious offenders or idiots, yet they can not get their own house in order.
Lets please not through anymore stones at Berwick as you need to remember your in a glass house
all the best for the new year and i will also admit this site and some comments from it have made me more aware of the troubles out on the streets and in our trade,
It has inspired me to make some small changes and attempt to do some things ourselves in the hope we can spur on some changes.
Admin!!!
Nice to see Berwick Council were not mentioned, if it had it would have been 0 refusals and everyone else welcome!!!!
Regards
Happy New Year……..well nowt happy in January anyway!!!!