A pervert minicab driver has been told to expect a lengthy jail sentence after he was convicted today of molesting a passenger.
David James, 72, had told a jury he was too old for such behaviour but a jury convicted him of assault by penetration.
Maidstone Crown Court heard the woman was left in a “sobbing heap” after the great grandfather kissed her and molested her in the back of his car.
Minicab driver David James has been found guilty of molesting a female customer.
She told how she afterwards repeatedly showered and scrubbed herself because she felt so unclean.
James was working for Chatham-based Vokes minicab firm when he drove the woman and three friends home from a nightclub in November last year.
She was the last to be dropped off in the early hours and moved into the middle seat to pay her fare.
Prosecutor Charlotte Newell said as the 25-year-old woman went to take her change James kissed her, putting his tongue in her mouth.
He let go. She dropped her purse in the footwell and then found James had joined her in the back.
She tried to get out but James kissed her again and put his hand down her top. He then pulled up her dress, pulled down her tights and assaulted her.
“You understand a custodial sentence is going to follow. It is going to be a substantial one” – Recorder Simon Taylor QC
James, whose licence to drive minicabs has since been revoked, denied the offence, claiming the woman twice snogged him, using tongues and nothing else happened.
>He said: “I was a bit surprised getting a kiss from a young girl. I thought: ‘Happy birthday.’”
Asked if he sexually assaulted the woman, he replied: “No, definitely not. I am a bit old for that.”
The jury of eight women and four men convicted him by an 11-1 majority after deliberating for almost six hours.
Recorder Simon Taylor QC told the father-of-three, of Sturdee Avenue, Gillingham: “You have been convicted of a serious offence. You understand a custodial sentence is going to follow. It is going to be a substantial one.”
Sentence was adjourned until after October 6 for reports to consider dangerousness.
Alexia Zimbler, defending, said it would enable James time to get any necessary medical information.
“He no longer has a licence, so he is not entitled to drive legally any more,” she added.
Recorder Taylor made it a condition of bail that James, who will have to sign the sex offenders’ register, should not drive a cab.
The Taxi Driver in this video politely asks the Minicab/Private Hire driver to move off the Taxi Rank and is then subjected to a tirade of abuse from the PH driver.
This is the sort of abuse that Taxi drivers face in their working lives every day from these Private Hire drivers who flout the law, these PH drivers are licensed by Transport for London (TfL).
These drivers do not have any form of character assessment before gaining their license to transport people around our capital city, unlike London Taxi drivers whose character is continually assessed while attending appointments for the Knowledge of London test.
Although originally it was stated that licensing minicabs would weed out these sort of individuals at now appears that TfL have decided that licensing of Private Hire drivers is now a mere paper exercise to give the impression that they have some form of control over private hire drivers, but obviously they do not have any control whatsoever.
The way in which private hire drivers are licensed needs to be overhauled to ensure that drivers like the one in this video are never considered for licensing.
Go Slow. A London Taxi ‘Go Slow’ will take place at 2pm, on Tuesday 9th September to protest against the Mayor of London’s improper and unlawful Taxi Age Limit.
The Mayor will appear before the Environmental Audit Committee on Wednesday this week to explain why his air quality strategies have failed, which includes the London Taxi Age Limit.
Scientific testing has shown that the new taxis create more pollution than the older taxis which the Mayor has needlessly scrapped, at great expense to taxi drivers.
Drivers are the worst affected by the toxic pollution in London and the Mayor has not implemented a single effective strategy to reduce emissions.
Support is confirmed by the London Cab Drivers Club, the United Cabbies Group and the RMT so it is hoped that members of all trade groups will be making their voices heard on Tuesday.
The London Taxi trade has been subjected to many improper decisions by the Mayor and TFL.
The London Taxi Age Limit is improper and unlawful, and deliberately causes financial hardship to taxi drivers, who are the group of workers most badly affected by toxic pollution.
The Mayor has failed in his Duty of Care to protect the Public and urgent action needs to be taken.
The Mayor is due to appear before the Environmental Audit Committee on Wednesday 10th September and should be required to explain why he has implemented the London Taxi Age limit which will not reduce pollution as proven by scientific evidence.
London Taxi Protests will take place before the Inquiry in the hope that this point is not overlooked.
Drivers will stage a ‘Go Slow’ in Central London at 2pm on Tuesday 9th September , the day before the Air Quality Inquiry hearing.
C.A.B hope that drivers from all trade organisations will support the protest.
The Committee is urged to ask The Mayor;
‘’The Mayor of London acknowledged in a written report to the Environmental Audit Committee in 2011 that the new Euro Emissions standards were not delivering reductions in pollution.
He said:
‘’A Euro 5 car, for example, emits around five times as much direct NO2 as a fifteen year old car. ‘’
The Mayor was asked on many occasions by London Assembly Members to at least conduct testing to prove that scrapping taxis would reduce emissions. He point blank refused to conduct a single test
In 2013 Defra released a report after the Environmental Research Group tested 10,000 taxis which confirmed that the new taxis were creating more pollution than those that had been scrapped.
Emissions reduction of PM could have been achieved by use of Clean Diesel, an Engine Clean Up Process, or retrofitting Diesel Particulate Filters.
Why has the Mayor needlessly scrapped 3000 taxis and why does he continue with this improper policy of scrapping taxis which are cleaner than the new taxis?’’
A credit union is a financial co-operative that is owned by its members and exists primarily to provide savings and loans to these members. Unlike banks, they are not ultimately motivated to create profit for external shareholders.
“There is a greater need than ever for a more ethical source of financial services,” said Peter Gordon Brown of Radio Taxis Credit Union after the vote.
“People are still paying too much for borrowing and being discouraged from saving. This merger will make a larger and stronger credit union that will better serve many more thousands of people in years to come.”
Martin Groombridge, chief executive of London Capital, added, “Credit unions across the UK are dedicated to serving the needs of their members and we are proud to be offering an alternative to the high street banks and rip off rates charged by payday lenders and many other finance providers across London.”
The news of the merger comes in the same week that Bank of England statistics show that credit unions now hold over £1 billion in deposits.
The figures also reveal that membership of credit unions exceeded 1 million people at the end of March, up by 6.8% in just 6 months.
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