|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Cannabis cabbie loses licence
Tony Gardner tony.gardner@ypn.co.uk Leeds Evening post
Thursday 05 Oct 2006 A CABBIE was caught with cannabis in his car EIGHT times before police took action against him. A court heard how Mohammed Shezad openly admitted to police he smoked up to seven joints a day while working as a cabbie in Leeds. Shezad, 26, said he thought it was all right to smoke while he worked as a private hire driver because he had been caught so many times but nothing was done. He told magistrates yesterday he upped his intake of the drug in a bid stop drinking alcohol. Leeds City Council were able to act in July, five years after Shezad was granted his licence, when a PC caught him smoking a joint while parked next to a school in Harehills. The officer issued him with a caution and notified the local authority's taxi licensing chiefs who swiftly revoked his driving permit. Yesterday the father-of-two, of St Wilfred's Crescent, Gipton, failed in his appeal against the decision. He told the court: "The police were stopping me and not doing anything about it. I thought it was just normal." Shezad, a user of the drug for 12 years, told the court he had always been open with officers whenever he was stopped. said: "I have always been stopped by police for cannabis and told them I was a taxi driver. From 2001 when I got my licence granted I have been stopped eight times, each time they have seen me smoking or have been able to smell the cannabis in the car. "At the end of 2004 I was stopped two or three times. I told them I was a taxi driver and had smoked cannabis for 12 years but no one took any notice. I did not really think It was so serious until July this year when I was stopped." Shezad, who worked for Cross Gates-based taxi firm Road Runners, said he had begun drinking heavily after the death of his baby daughter in 2003 and turned to cannabis to in a bid to avoid alcohol. "I used to drink alcohol heavily and sometimes went to work half drunk the next day and drive the taxi. That was really dangerous." He also told the court how he knew other drivers who regularly took cannabis. He said: "I have always been in the taxi business. I have always seen taxi drivers smoking drugs, a lot of them are doing it while they are out on the street." He added: "If I wasn't honest, I would not have told the police what I did or what I was in the past. But honesty leads to this. "My mates said to me 'you should not have said all that' but the way I see it is honesty is the best policy." Des Broster, principal taxi licensing officer for Leeds city Council, said: "The use of drugs and public transport are wholly incompatible. "Regardless of the social context that may have been added by government regarding cannabis, the council will not consider cannabis safe when transporting the public of Leeds around." He added: "We take the view that users of drugs may take a more sympathetic tone of people who use drugs and seek to buy drugs in their vehicles." Dismissing the appeal, magistrate Hazel Wicks said: "We do not think Mr Shezad has demonstrated he is a fit and proper person. "We are surprised his behaviour has not come before the authorities before. "The bench are extremely concerned that the police seem not to be taking action against people seen driving while taking cannabis." http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1805155
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!