Anti-vax podcasts land cabbie with warning and ‘remedial’ training

A cabbie was sent on a remedial training course after playing anti-vax podcasts to a passenger.

The Brighton and Hove taxi driver was given a warning and required to take the course after being caught using a “mobile device” to play the podcast last month.

The driver was one of 12 listed in a Brighton and Hove City Council report to have either had a warning or their licence revoked.

The report, to the council’s Licensing Committee, said that one cabbie’s licence was revoked last month after the driver was arrested.

Police detained the driver on suspicion of being involved with the supply of class A drugs and tampering with in-cab security cameras.

Another driver’s licence was suspended for over-charging after a complaint about the driver’s conduct towards passengers in April.

A “private hire” driver licensed in Chichester was given a caution for waiting for passengers in a Brighton and Hove taxi rank in March.

The ranks are meant to be for the sole use of “hackney carriage” taxis licensed by Brighton and Hove City Council.

A local private hire driver was also cautioned for a rule breach in April.

Green councillor Steve Davis asked about how licensing officials dealt with infractions.

Licensing officer Alex Evans said that the council could caution or prosecute out-of-town drivers who broke the rules.

He told the meeting at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Thursday 23 June): “With our own drivers, we have our enforcement policy so we can issue warnings.

“If a driver is caught twice and they’ve had a caution, and it’s within a reasonable amount of time, we will escalate that, depending on whether under enforcement policy we can look at prosecution.”