January 19, 2023 10.49 am This story is over 24 months old

Taxi driver blamed ex for ‘provoking her into driving through red lights’

Committee sympathised with driver

A taxi driver accused of driving through two sets of red lights told a City of Lincoln licensing committee she was provoked by her ex.

A recent Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Sub-Committee heard that the authority had received video footage and complaint regarding the licensee in May. This was later followed by a further complaint by a passenger in June.

Hackney carriage meetings are held behind closed doors and the driver has not been identified within the reports.

However, the minutes of the meeting said that during discussions: “The Applicant advised the committee that the incident that took place at the traffic lights was staged by her ex-partner and aggression was used in order to gain a reaction from her.”

The report said, however, that the sub-committee believed the license holder was “passionate about her job and this was her livelihood”.

“The Sub-Committee did have concerns that’s these events may re-occur (relationship with ex-partner) and thus re-iterated to the licence holder the seriousness of her actions and how these actions could have had different consequences.

“The Committee were very sympathetic towards the applicant and the incident involving her ex-partner at the traffic lights.”

The driver had held a private hire drivers licence since 2014 and had not received any points or been before the sub-committee before.

The committee agreed to continue to grant her license but issued a strongly worded letter reiterating the seriousness of the offence.

During the same meeting, the committee also granted a private hire licence to a driver who had been convicted for driving with no insurance and another who had nine penalty points on thier licence.

A further driver who had received six penalty points on their licence was refused a licence and told he couldn’t re-apply for three years.

The committee heard the driver had previously had their license revoked but had since been granted a new one. However, the penalty points were disclosed when that was renewed.

The committee said the applicant “didn’t come across as remorseful and became agitated when questioned”.

“The Sub-Committee did not feel comfortable with the applicant being responsible for driving their relatives in a taxi as well as the general public,” said the minutes.