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Private hire operator and driver prosecuted for transporting school children without correct licence (8 June 2017)

Date: 08/06/2017
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Private hire operator and driver prosecuted for transporting school children without correct licence

Reading Council has prosecuted a private hire operator and a driver for transporting children to school without the correct licence.

Licensing officers were carrying out routine vehicle and driver checks at a school in Reading on 23 November 2016, when they stopped Muhammad Kayani, 45, of Cumberland Road, east Reading.

Kayani was delivering children to the school in a licensed private hire vehicle, but he did not hold a private hire vehicle driver’s licence.

When asked to show his photographic driver’s badge – which all licensed drivers must carry while on duty – he told officers he did not have it with him and gave a false name and licence number belonging to a licensed driver.

At Reading Magistrates Court n May, Kayani pleaded guilty to driving a private hire vehicle without a licence – and obstructing an authorised officer without reasonable cause. He was fined £266.

He was also fined £133 for having no insurance – and his DVLA licence was endorsed with six penalty points.

Kayani was also ordered to pay legal costs of £250 and a victim surcharge of £30, bringing the total sum to £679.

The private hire vehicle operator, Zafer Iqbal, 42, of ASR Travel Ltd, was working as a school escort on the same vehicle and backed up Kayani when he gave a false name and licence number.

Iqbal of Cressingham Road in Reading appeared before Reading Magistrates’ Court in May and admitted operating a private hire vehicle, the driver of which did not have a licence, as well as obstructing an authorised officer without reasonable cause, for which he was fined £266.

Iqbal was also ordered to pay legal costs of £250 and a victim surcharge of £30, bringing the total amount to £546.

After sentencing, Reading Council’s Lead Member for Consumer Services, Councillor Sarah Hacker said:

“Well done to the council’s Licensing and Legal teams for the successful outcomes of these cases.

“Regular routine checks like this help to protect public safety by ensuring private hire and taxi operators abide by the rules, otherwise they run the risk of receiving hefty fines from the courts.”


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