Driver from unlicensed Kenilworth taxi firm fined

John Patrick Behan was fined £300 and ordered to pay Warwick District Council’s costs of £1602.39 after admitting to operating a private hire business and driving a private hire vehicle without the correct licences.

The court heard that in March police officers made a booking for a private hire with an unlicensed company trading as Taurus Cabs, which operated out of Station Road in Kenilworth.

When the vehicle arrived to collect the officers on the 7 March 2015 it was found that the vehicle was also not licenced.

Mr Behan, a licenced Hackney Carriage private hire driver with the council appeared before the Licensing and Regulatory Committee in May after he admitted that he had been operating without both a private hire operators licence and a private hire vehicle licence.

At that hearing the committee representatives determined that it he was no longer a fit and proper person to hold a licence and it was revoked.

Richard Hall, Head of Health and Community Protection for the council, said: “The legislation requires that for certain activities you must hold a licence.

“Warwick District Council sets standards to which those licence holders must adhere and conducts regular compliance checks to ensure that these are being met. “Businesses or persons operating without the correct licences put the driver, other road users and the public at risk.”