A court has upheld the borough council’s decision not to renew the hackney carriage licence of a Luton driver.
Licensing officers attended Luton Magistrates Court and outlined three separate complaints about Ayoub Khan overcharging, leaving a taxi unattended in a town centre rank and a police investigation into an allegation of attempting to pervert the course of justice relating to two speeding offences committed in Leicestershire and Milton Keynes.
Magistrates pointed out that the overcharging complaints followed a similar pattern and the complainants were unknown to each other, one of them lives in Scotland.
Mr Khan, of Fitzroy Avenue, denied seeing papers about the speeding incidents sent to him by the two police forces requiring he nominate the driver of his vehicle at the time of the incidents.
He claims he had no idea how the details of someone living in India at the time were sent to the police in connection with the incidents.
Forensic comparison of Mr Khan’s signature sent to the police and on documentation supplied to the council’s licensing service provided a link in the handwriting samples, according to expert opinion.
Magistrates determined the appeal on the balance of probabilities, describing council evidence as ‘credible’ and Mr Khan’s evidence as ‘evasive’.
The appeal was dismissed and Mr Khan, who has held cab licences with Luton and South Bedfordshire for over 20 years, was ordered to pay the council’s full costs of £983.
Councillor Hazel Simmons, leader of the council, said: “We are very pleased with the court decision.
“The council’s licensing service has a duty to keep travellers using hackney carriages licensed in Luton as safe as possible.
“Travellers also want to be sure they will be charged fairly for their journey.”