Sentence

I took a guy round to the local Magistrates Court building this week and he had with him a large bag and what looked like all his worldly possessions with him. Are you off somewhere nice I asked little thinking that he would reply" no I'm going to jail." Maybe not I said they may look kindly on you and you may get off lightly, no he said, "I have been found guilty already and I'm up for for sentencing today and they have said it’s pretty certain that it’s time in jail". Not a lot I could say after that I could see that he was worried and nervous, but as they say, if you can’t do the time don’t do the crime. 

Jail Phone

A strange letter arrived at the local Taxi office that I work from the other day.
It was headed as coming from Her Majesty's Prison, which one I won't say to protect the identity of the letter writer. The writer explains that they had been picked up by one of the Acacia taxis a while ago and then found that they had no cash to pay the driver. Whether this was maybe an attempt to do a runner or not we don't know so let's give him the benefit of the doubt eh!
Anyway, the driver must have had the good sense to not let him get away with it and promptly asked for the guy's phone as surety.
 So the prisoner was explaining in the letter from jail that the next day he had been arrested and then sent to prison. What for he doesn't say in his letter so lets hope it isn't anything too bad eh! 
He didn't know who the driver was or what car he drove and only gave the street which he had been picked up from and a rough date.
 Amazingly, when the operator radioed over and asked if anyone knew anything about it a driver answered right away and confirmed that he had the guy's phone.
The prisoner asked in his letter if the driver could keep hold of his phone until he was released from incarceration in a few months' time.
Luckily, for him the driver readily agreed to this. But as no one was willing to write back in reply to the prisoner I guess that he will have to remain in suspense tucked up in his cell until he is finally released.     

Man does a runner after £220 taxi ride

Local to where we are based this story made the news today which actually got me thinking as numerous drivers have had people do a runner on them without payment and the police always seem to deal with it differently more often than not saying that its a civil offence and not criminal as I think they just dont want to get involved with it all. So why cant all cases be treat as an offence. Surely if someone makes off without paying then that at the very least is "Obtaining pecuniary advantage". Eother way its still theft, deceit or something similar.

The story in pour local paper is about a man who does a runner after £220 taxi ride from Wales to Haverigg (About 25 miles from Barrow In Furness)

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A MAN failed to pay for a taxi from Wales to Haverigg, a court heard.

Trefor Evans, 22, yesterday pleaded guilty to a charge of deceit for not paying for the taxi.

Evans told Furness Magistrates’ Court that he made the taxi journey from Caernarfon to visit his mother, Sharon Sweeney who lives in Townhead, Haverigg.

Evans said he had taken the 190-mile trip from his home because his mother was upset and asked him to visit her.

When he arrived at the destination, he told the taxi driver that neither he nor his mother had the money to pay the £220 fare.

He told the court: “My mother phoned me and she said she wanted me to come down. She was crying on the phone. I said I couldn’t visit because I couldn’t pay for the trip.

“But she said she would pay for it on the other side. When we got to the house, she said she didn’t have the money. I thought that I was in a bad situation.

“I was in a bad situation and didn’t know what to do.”

Mr Evans then ran away from the driver, Darren Fitzjohn, as he unsuccessfully tried to get the money for the fare from his sister.

He was originally due to appear in front of the magistrates on October 12.

Evans, who is unemployed, said he missed the original date because he lived in Wales and didn’t have the money to travel to Barrow.

He said: “I couldn’t get back up here from Caernarfon.

“I fell out with my mother over this situation and had nowhere to stay up here.”

Magistrates asked Evans to think carefully about whether or not he knowingly left Wales with the intention of not paying the fare.

Evans told the hearing he felt that he was guilty as he had failed to pay the fare and wanted the case to be dealt with so he could return home.

Evans, of Bro Seiont, Caernarfon, was ordered to pay £220 compensation to the taxi driver.

Compensation

You may well remember that I mentioned that I had an incident occur on Boxing Day last year and the case went to court in January this year with the courts awarding me £100 compensation...

Well, finally, after 10 months of waiting I have received my first instalment of £20 which is being paid monthly. The first payemt arrived this week so I guess I will have to wait til the end of March 2010 for the final payment.

I really cant see the court awarding compensation when the defendant doesnt even miss it and can pay it at £5 per week.

If you missed the original post then take a look HERE

CCTV in the cab

On Boxing Day 2008 and I picked a fare up in Barrow Town Centre and took him to where he wanted to be and asked him for the fare of £5.40p. The guy was OK when he got in the cab but his attitude changed when he got home and he refused to pay the fare and threatened to "slice me up".

Naturally I was frightened and its not the sort of thing you should have to put up with in this job but unfortunately these days it seems to be part of the job description.

The thing is, If it wasn't for CCTV in the cab then this idiot may well have got away with this. I contacted the police and they took a statement and looked at the CCTV footage which they seized as evidence.

What do you think. Should all taxis be fitted with CCTV or is this an infringement of human rights and an invasion of privacy. The reason I ask this is that last weekend I had a young lad get in the cab and he asked if what he saw was a CCTV camera. I told him it was and he immediately told me that he didn't want to be on camera and to let him out the car. He did pay the fare but seemed reluctant to be on camera. Perhaps he had something to hide.

To me, Its my car and if I want to fit a camera in it and film then I should have every right to do so and if passengers dont like the idea of themselves being on camera then thats their problem. They have the choice. They dont have to travel in the cab. I have signs in prominent places in the vehicle stating that CCTV is recording images for safety.

Read the full story about the taxi court case below. Double click to enlarge