Taxi driver ordered to pay £500 after found plying for trade illegally

Abid Mohammed Ali, aged 27, was stopped after a joint operation between police and Stafford Borough Council to crackdown on rogue minicabs.

Stafford Magistrates Court was told Ali agreed to take a council officer and plain-clothed police officer to a pub when they approached his ABC Supreme private hire vehicle in Station Road, Stone.

Private hire drivers can only pick up passengers that have booked in advance and it is illegal for them to collect customers in the street or from a taxi rank.

The Safer Nights operation aims to reduce the risks to residents of uninsured and unsafe vehicles on the roads in the borough.

Ali, of Spring Road, Stoke did not appear in court on Wednesday where he was found guilty of driving a carriage/plying for hire when the carriage was not licensed as a public hackney carriage.

He was given a £200 fine, ordered to pay costs of just over £320 and a £20 victim surcharge.

Cabinet member for environment and health, Frank Finlay, said: "We are determined to clamp down on private hire drivers who stick two fingers up at the law by coming into the borough and picking up residents with no prior booking.

"One of our top priorities is the health and wellbeing of our community and this operation aims to protect the public as they are at risk, because these vehicles will not be insured if they are picking up passengers in this way."

It was the fourth successful prosecution in recent months following the joint operation by the police and council.