Newcastle City Council and Northumbria Police clamp down on illegal taxi drivers

By Kris Jepson

Newcastle City Council's Licensing Authority has conducted a series of operations to target private hire and non-Newcastle licensed drivers who pick up illegally on the street.

The council says the problem gets worse at Christmas as more and more people visit the city.

Eight drivers were recently prosecuted, fined and ordered to pay legal costs after being caught during test purchase operations.

Watch @krisjepson's report here:

Anyone caught plying for trade illegally face fines, legal costs, victim surcharges and points on their licence, which in some cases can lead to them being disqualified from driving.

During an operation last night, licensing officer, Jonathan Bryce, stopped a taxi driver who had a license to operate in an area outside of Newcastle. He was parked in a loading bay and had no booking in place.

More concerning for the police was that when they approached the driver they saw him viewing pornography on his phone.

PC Stu Dixon said this was concerning because it is "inappropriate" for a taxi driver to do this in a public place and "it's not the kind of behaviour we expect from a person who is taking our vulnerable people home from the city this evening".

City Centre Neighbourhood Inspector Steve Wykes explained incidents of this nature are the reason why the police are supporting the council in this operation. He said public safety is key.

In conjunction with Northumbria Police’s Neighbourhood Policing Teams and the Traffic Unit more than 900 drivers have additionally been stopped and had their vehicles checked as part of operations in 2017.