Speeding taxi driver avoids jail after lying about driver

Image:castletaxiscanterbury.com

62-year-old Mohammed Malik claimed a mechanic was driving his Toyota Avensis when it was clocked traveling at 37mph in a 30 zone in Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham, in April last year.

Officers then wrote to the mechanic, only to have the letter returned saying he no longer lived at the address given. They also visited the address and found it was a residential property that had never been a garage.

This aroused more suspicion, so police then spoke to the cabbie's firm to get a print out of his journeys on the day in question - they clearly showed Malik had actually picked up a fare at the time, with the person clearly visible on speeding camera footage sitting in the back seat.
Still, Malik insisted it was his mechanic at the wheel.

With the evidence stacking against him, Malik finally admitted the speeding offence and was subsequently charged with perverting the course of justice for lying about who was behind the wheel.
The driver, of Coleshill Road, Ward End, pleaded guilty to the charge and on 31 March he was handed a four month prison sentence - suspended for 18 months - plus 80 hours unpaid work and costs of £400. He was also banned from driving for six months.

PC Steve Jevons said "Malik may have avoided jail but the suspended sentence is hanging over him for the next year-and-a-half and it’s likely he will now be stripped of his taxi licence. With no livelihood, clearly this will have a huge impact on his life and he will have to ask himself if all his lies were worth the risk. We hope this case serves as a warning to others that lying to the police and the authorities is a serious offence and can ultimately land you behind bars."

March of the 20mph camera enforced speed limits on busiest roads across Britain

Motorists face £100 fines as 20mph limits are imposed on some of Britain’s busiest roads.

Until now, the lower 20mph speed limit has been restricted to smaller roads in residential areas or near schools. However this is about to change with 20mph limits to be introduced on major arterial roads (policed by the latest digital speed cameras).

London Mayor Boris Johnson has revealed that eight pilot schemes will be run on ‘Red Routes’ – the main arterial roads that carry a third of the capital’s traffic. 

Other towns and cities including Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh say they also intend to introduce the new limits.

The minimum fine fore motorists caught breaking the 20mph limit will be £100 fine and three points on their driving licence.

The AA says the new limits are being driven more by ‘dogma’ than road safety. A spokesman said: ‘These 20mph zones are popping up like spring daffodils.

‘There is a lot of fear among drivers that, with 20mph being a relatively unfamiliar speed, widespread speed camera use will make them look more at their speedometers than at what is happening on populated streets in front of them.’

If the trials in London ( due to last 18-months)  are judged a success, the 20mph limits will be made permanent and imposed on 30 miles of key ‘Red Routes’ considered by transport bosses to be ‘more local road than motorway’. Some 175 miles of residential streets.

Under the new London scheme, the first road to convert to 20mph next month will be Commercial Street in Shoreditch, linking into plans for Tower Hamlets and Hackney to become 20mph boroughs.

Rod King, founder of the ‘20’s Plenty for Us’ campaign group, said: ‘The current 30mph national limit is being rejected as “unfit for purpose” for communities so we’re setting out a series of government actions required for a planned transition to a UK default urban limit of 20mph by 2020.’

A Department for Transport spokesman said: ‘Research shows 20mph zones can save lives and this government has made it easier for councils to introduce them.

‘It is for local authorities to set speed limits and for the police to decide how best to enforce them.’

The spokesman added: ‘We are undertaking a three-year research project to better understand the effect of 20mph zones and their impact on local communities.’