Taxi driver fined after offering illegal rides

The taxi driver has been ordered banned from driving for six months

A taxi driver has been fined more than £1,000 and banned from driving for six months after offering illegal rides.

Talal Bin Mumtaz Raja, from Reading, Berkshire, is a South Oxfordshire licensed Private Hire and Hackney Carriage driver and operated while his licence was suspended, illegally plying for hire in Reading.

Reading Borough Council's licensing team conducted an undercover test purchase operation last year, during which Mr Raja agreed to take an officer to an address in Tilehurst for £12 without prior booking.

He was convicted of four offences on 7 April at Reading Magistrates Court.

Mr Raja is licensed as a black cab driver but this only entitles him to pick up customers without a booking in the borough where he is licensed.

It was discovered that Mr Raja's driving and vehicle licences had been suspended at the time of the test purchase because he had failed to complete mandatory disability training.

The court imposed fines of £700 for the offences of plying for hire and operating without insurance.

Mr Raja was also handed costs of £1,000, and a victim surcharge of £280, along with a six-month driving ban.

John Ennis, Reading Borough Council lead for climate strategy and transport, said he hoped that "this and the other recent successful prosecutions serve as a deterrent to drivers who are tempted to work opportunistically and outside of the law in Reading".