TAXI

More readers than the rest put together! 22 SEPTEMBER 2015 | TAXI 23
NEWS
Touts put before the courts
Crime
Transport officers have successfully
prosecuted more than 15 minicab
drivers for touting in London in the
past two months.
The arrests were made as part of
checks on thousands of drivers and
vehicles and follow up investigations
to complaints made by customers and
taxi drivers.
Ian Vassell, 46, and Peter Emeka, 39,
both from Dagenham, were convicted
of illegally plying for hire on
Charterhouse Street at Westminster
Magistrates’ Court in August.
Both men accepted private hire
bookings without an operator’s licence
and used a car for minicab purposes
without the correct insurance or
licences.
Vassell was found guilty of five
offences and fined a total of £330 and
ordered to pay TfL’s legal costs of
£500. He was banned from driving for
12 months. Emeka was also found
guilty of five offences and fined a total
of £800 and ordered to pay TfL’s legal
costs of £360. He was also disqualified
from driving for six months.
Steve Burton, TfL’s Director of
Enforcement and On-Street
Operations, said: “The public’s safety is
our primary focus and we will continue to
work with our policing partners to catch
and prosecute anyone who puts the public
at risk, and who undermines the legitimate,
licensed taxi and private hire trade.”
Kwaku Yamoah Kesse, 59, from
South East London, was convicted of
committing three similar offences on
Clapham High Street at Westminster
Magistrates’ Court on August 8. He
was fined a total of £1,210 and ordered
to pay TfL’s legal costs of £500. He was
also disqualified from driving for three
months.
Dosso Costea, 55, a taxi driver from
East London, was convicted at
Westminster Magistrates’ court on 22
July 2015. He was caught in central
London working after the expiry of his
driver’s licence and using a vehicle for
passenger hire on a public road
without the correct insurance. He was
found guilty of both offences,fined a
total of £550 and ordered to pay TfL’s
legal costs of £150. His DVLA licence
was also endorsed with six penalty
points. The public can report touting or
illegal cabs on the TfL website here:
https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/12368.aspx.
David Leslie Coggins
01.03.1937 – 31.08.2015
The Taxi Centre
MERCEDES VITO REPAIR SPECIALISTS
“A big, brave guy”
The family of a much-loved taxi
driver who died following a long
illness have paid tribute to a
“brave” husband, father and
grandfather.
Dave Coggins passed his
Knowledge in the mid-70s and
loved being a cabbie, which led
him to work as a marshal for
Com Cab.
When a bomb went off in
Canary Wharf in 1996, whilst Dave
was working at CFSB, a colleague,
Tony Lock, remembered him
carrying on regardless, ignoring
the chaos around him, and
ensuring that the customers got
cabs home safely.
Tony remembers him as being “a
big, brave guy – always willing to
help - and it was his pleasure to know
and work with him.”
Dave had been seriously ill for a
number of years but the family
were pleased that he was able to
spend his last few days peacefully
at home.
He moved to Hunmanby, North
Yorkshire in 1995, to retire, but
couldn’t resist popping back to do
a week now and then.
Dave died on Monday, August
31, and is survived by his wife,
Joyce, daughter Joanne, son Steve
(also a cabbie), and grandchildren
Zak and Kodi.
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