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April 2007
On Friday 13th April, a Luton taxi driver was sentenced to 21 days in prison at Luton Crown Court for trying to lie his way out of a speeding penalty. He was found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice and also received 3 penalty points on his driving licence which resulted in a 6 month driving disqualification. Fokhul Ahmed of Elite Cars in Luton tried to avoid payment of a £60 fine and 3 penalty points on his licence for speeding by providing Bedfordshire Police with false driver details, which prompted a police enquiry. He claimed a friend visiting from overseas had borrowed his car and was taking his Aunt somewhere that day. The photograph of the offence clearly revealed that it was in fact Mr Ahmed at the wheel and that the passenger was a tall white male, not an Asian female as suggested. Elite Cars also confirmed to the police that Mr Ahmed was working that day and carrying a fare-paying passenger at the time of the offence. Judge Kay, who passed the sentence, described Ahmed's story as "ridiculous" and made it clear that he will continue to send drivers to prison until the message gets through. Arresting officer, PC Quinn said "There is a mistaken belief amongst taxi drivers that offences detected on safety cameras will not be pursued if false driver details are supplied. We want to make it clear to all those who think they can flout the law through lies and deceit that we are on the case. We are determined to eradicate this problem and make the roads safer for everybody." Over the last nine months Bedfordshire
Police have made 85 arrests for attempts to pervert the course
of justice in relation to motoring offences, of which 77 have
been of taxi drivers. |
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