Council action to revoke taxi driver’s licence vindicated by courts
A self-employed taxi driver has had his licence to operate as a hire driver revoked at the conclusion of an extended legal process.
The decision of a Crown Court judge, in a rare appeal to the higher court challenging the earlier decisions of a magistrate’s court and North Kesteven District Council’s General Licencing Sub Committee, upheld and endorsed the actions and processes taken under the council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy.
As a result, Enus Karim, of Sleaford, is no longer licenced to operate as a taxi driver and is ordered to pay the council’s costs of £800 for the two appeals he launched.
In a statement, NKDC said Mr Karim was issued with a hire driver licence in October 2023 following a formal driver assessment with the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership because he had at the time, three speeding convictions. In June 2024 following two more speeding offences – which occurred on consecutive days at the same location – the General Licensing Sub Committee determined he was ‘no longer a fit and proper person to continue to hold his Hire Driver Licence due to his propensity to speed and therefore put passengers and other road users at increased risk’.
As a result, his Hire Driver Licence was revoked. The council statement continued that in December 2024 at Boston Magistrates Court, the decision of the Licensing Sub Committee was upheld and his appeal dismissed. A further appeal to Lincoln Crown Court, heard on May 2, 2025, was dismissed and the decision of the Licensing Sub Committee was again upheld.
Coun Mark Smith, who’s area of Executive Board special interest includes licencing and public protection, said: “The primary purpose of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing is public safety. It is rare for taxi appeals to progress to the Crown Court, so it is satisfying that the current policy, and the way it is implemented, have been endorsed by both the Magistrates and Crown Courts.”