.jpg)
Red light mistake costs driver £1,124 after police discover he was unlicensed to drive private hire vehicle
A private hire driver has been fined and handed six penalty points after a red-light contravention in Nottinghamshire led police to discover he was not licensed to drive the vehicle.
Ionel-Adrian Sandu, 35, living in Ipswich, was found guilty of driving a private hire vehicle without a licence, driving without insurance and failing to comply with a red-light signal.
The case began on the afternoon of Sunday 12 April, when Sandu was driving a licensed vehicle along the A6005 Nottingham Road in Chilwell and went through a red light.
Nottinghamshire Police subsequently sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution to the vehicle’s registered keeper. The vehicle itself was licensed by Ipswich Borough Council.
After the registered keeper told officers that another person had been behind the wheel at the time of the offence, police carried out further checks with the licensing authority.
Those enquiries established that Sandu, who had been nominated as the driver, was not licensed to operate the private hire vehicle. The discovery resulted in charges extending beyond the original red-light offence to include driving the vehicle without the appropriate licence and driving without insurance.
Sandu was tried in his absence at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 17 September and found guilty of all three offences.
He was fined £660 and ordered to pay £200 in costs and a £264 surcharge, taking the total financial penalty to £1,124. Six penalty points were also added to his driving licence.
Nottinghamshire Police has used the case to warn that driving a taxi or private hire vehicle without the appropriate licensing can result in prosecution, a substantial financial penalty and driving licence points.
PC Jon Dye, of the Nottinghamshire Safety Camera Partnership, said: "Driving a taxi or other private hire vehicle without a valid licence is a criminal offence that will always lead to prosecution.
"Additional licensing requirements for private hire drivers are in place for a good reason: to keep paying passengers safe from harm.
"Although it remains unclear whether he was carrying a passenger at the time, he still committed an offence and will now face the consequences."
