A taxi driver faced a £600 bill after the ‘litter police’ accused him of dropping a cigarette butt when he was vaping.
Chris Jones was challenged by a Kingdom Services Group employee when sitting in his cab on October 26 last year.
Kingdom were previously employed as enforcement agency of Wirral Council and fined people littering the streets.
With a discarded cigarette that he had just picked up, the Kingdom officer insisted Mr Jones had just chucked it away.
But Mr Jones said he had been using an e-cigarette just before he was approached.
Jones went on to say, ‘He knew it was an e-cigarette I had been smoking – he just wanted to get his bonus.’
The cabbie was fined £300 and ordered to pay £300 costs at Sefton Magistrates’ Court.
However determined not to accept the verdict, he hired solicitors and the decision was overturned on appeal at Liverpool Crown Court.
Speaking about why he appealed, Mr Jones said: ‘It was for all the old people that can’t afford to do it, sitting without gas or electricity or going without their food to pay the fines.’
Kingdom’s contract with Wirral Council, which was due to last until 2021, has now been terminated by ‘mutual decision’.
The Liverpool Echo reports there had been a ‘public backlash’ against the company and threats to their staff on social media.
Kingdom declined to comment when contacted by Metro.co.uk.
TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT:
This type of behaviour is nothing new here in London, Taxi drivers are constantly complaining about the dishonest and biased treatment from TfLTPH COs and MET cab enforcement officers.
We seen them in the past illegally entering vehicles without being invited and removing property they have no relight to remove.
In other cases they have reported drivers for using mobile phones while parked on Taxi Ranks even though some of the ranks where drivers were reported, are on private property (network rail/hotel forecourts)
One case recently featured by Taxi Leaks went to the Magistrates court where the case against the driver collapsed, when it emerged the video shot by an undercover officer was of a completely different Taxi driver in a completely different Taxi.
Two TfLTPH compliance officers were videoed by a Taxi driver removing a copy of Taxi magazine from his Taxi. They informed the driver that the headline ‘Uber driver jailed for 12 years for raping passenger’ was abusive to Uber who TfL supported’. (Yes she actually said that)
The video featured in the Mail online.
