A taxi driver from Blackpool has had to pay more than £500 after failing to
put a No Smoking sticker in his cab.Michael Boaler was fined £250 with £250 costs after being prosecuted byBlackpool's licensing team. He was also amazingly ordered to pay a £15 surcharge for the victims of crime fund afterfailing to display the stickers which cost a measly £1.
To add insult to injury the conviction means he now has to go before the town's public protection sub committee and could face losing his licence or being suspended.
Officials say the example should send out a strong(heavy handed) message to the resort's
cabbies they must abide by new no smoking laws.
Boaler, 44, , was found to have breached smoking ban laws by failing to display one of the small logos during a cab crackdown in August – one month after new legislation was brought in.
Police and licensing officials, checking over his hackney carriage as part of an operation to move private hire vehicles out of street taxi ranks, gave Boaler a fixed penalty notice of £150 for the breach. But when he failed to pay the fine the council decided to take legal action.
He pleaded guilty at Blackpool magistrates court. "Some drivers mistakenly think it is the owner's responsibility to put up the signs but the person who is behind the wheel will receive a fixed penalty if there is no sign.
put a No Smoking sticker in his cab.Michael Boaler was fined £250 with £250 costs after being prosecuted byBlackpool's licensing team. He was also amazingly ordered to pay a £15 surcharge for the victims of crime fund afterfailing to display the stickers which cost a measly £1.
To add insult to injury the conviction means he now has to go before the town's public protection sub committee and could face losing his licence or being suspended.
Officials say the example should send out a strong(heavy handed) message to the resort's
cabbies they must abide by new no smoking laws.
Boaler, 44, , was found to have breached smoking ban laws by failing to display one of the small logos during a cab crackdown in August – one month after new legislation was brought in.
Police and licensing officials, checking over his hackney carriage as part of an operation to move private hire vehicles out of street taxi ranks, gave Boaler a fixed penalty notice of £150 for the breach. But when he failed to pay the fine the council decided to take legal action.
He pleaded guilty at Blackpool magistrates court. "Some drivers mistakenly think it is the owner's responsibility to put up the signs but the person who is behind the wheel will receive a fixed penalty if there is no sign.
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