THREE taxi drivers have lost their appeals against a decision by Craven District Council to either revoke or to suspend their licences.

Mohammad Nawaz, 52 - also known as Mohammed Nawaz and as Mohammed Raees - and Mohammed Arfaan Nawaz, 27, appealed against a decision of the council’s Licensing and Appeals Sub Committee in June to immediately revoke their licences on the grounds they were found not to be fit or proper to hold licences in Craven.

At a two day hearing held last week before magistrates sitting in Harrogate and in Skipton, the court was told Mohammad Nawaz had appeared three times before the council sub committee in the last year relating to conduct issues including offences under the Equality Act in relation to the overcharging of wheelchair using passengers and overcharging passengers in general. He had also failed to repair the wheelchair ramp of his taxi when instructed to do so.

Mohammed Arfaan Nawaz was found not to be fit and proper after he was involved in an accident and was abusive towards the complainant, including refusing to hand over his insurance details.

The court heard that at the sub-committee meeting, his behaviour towards the complainants, as well as councillors and council officials, meant that the meeting had to be adjourned.

He had also been suspended for 14 days earlier last year after he brought a vehicle for inspection which had a seriously defective tyre and ignored the instructions of an officer not to drive away in the vehicle which had failed its MOT and vehicle test.

In the course of preparing for the appeal officers also found that he had also had a taxi badge in Rossendale revoked in 2017 and had failed to declare this to Craven District Council.

A third taxi driver, Mohammed Ryahaan Nawaz, 29, appealed against a decision of the council to suspend his Hackney Carriage Driver Licence for six months, for his part in the failure to repair the wheelchair ramp on his father’s taxi.

Magistrates dismissed all three appeals of the men, all of West View Grove, Keighley, ordering them to each pay full costs to the council of £2,700.

After the hearings, Councillor Simon Myers, chairman of the council’s Licensing Committee, said officers and councillors had taken some difficult decisions.

“This was the first time that the council’s new taxi policy, adopted in June, and decisions taken using the new policy, has been subject to appeal. The new policy states that it will take regard of the recently published Institute of licensing guidance. This document is being pushed by the Institute of Licensing as the way forward in ensuring that licensing authorities across the country are placing public safety at the heart of their decision-making process when deciding whether applicants are ‘fit and proper’ to be licensed.

“In the absence of national standards for the taxi trade, which we in Craven and other licensing authorities up and down the country are lobbying the Government to introduce, we were keen to ensure that Craven was one of the first councils in the country to take regard of the guidance alongside our own policy.

“The magistrates, in dismissing the appeals, have reaffirmed the fact that Craven District Council, through its more robust policy with the safety of the public at its heart, are ensuring that only those people who are deemed ‘fit and proper’ continue to be licensed in Craven.”