York taxi boss who ‘showed flagrant disregard for the rules of the road’ has licence bid rejected

A manager at a large York taxi firm has had his bid for a new taxi operators licence refused.

Bilal Hussain Iqbal, a manager at York Cars, applied to City of York Council to run Dash Private Hire from Outgang Lane in Osbaldwick.

But councillors said they had “too many doubts” and concluded Mr Hussain was not a “fit and proper person” to hold an operator’s licence.

The committee was told that Mr Hussain’s personal driver’s badge was revoked last year due to a mobile phone offence, but that this did not prevent him from applying to become an operator.

In 2020, a council licensing committee voted to revoke York Cars’ licence after deciding its owner, Mohammed Iqbal, was unfit to hold the licence – but York Cars later appealed and the council agreed to extend it with additional conditions.

During Mr Bilal Iqbal’s latest licence hearing, councillors heard there had been complaints about the way taxis are currently parked around Outgang Lane.

Council officers explained that there is currently no taxi operators licence in the area, but unit one on the industrial estate is being used as a garage to repair York Cars vehicles.

Mr Iqbal was applying for a licence to operate Dash Private Hire from the first floor of unit one – which already has planning permission to operate as a taxi business.

His link to York Cars emerged during the meeting after questioning by councillors.

Parking issues

Osbaldwick and Murton ward councillor Mark Warters said businesses had left the area due to the parking issues.

He added: “The other businesses that are trying to get up and down that section of road are absolutely fed up with the situation.

“In terms of complaints about parking of taxis and vehicle repair operations taking place in the public highway, there could quite easily be complaints submitted every single day of the week.”

Cllr Andy D’Agorne asked for reassurance that a taxi business would not make the problem worse.

Mr Iqbal said: “An operator doesn’t require a vehicle to return to the base, especially with modern day technology.

“It wouldn’t be very economical for a driver to return to the base after every booking.”

Proposing a rejection of Mr Iqbal’s application, Cllr Warters said: “If you’ve got an operator’s licence, you should be setting a clear example to the drivers that you’re running the business with.

“Showing a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road and now being banned for five years from actually holding a taxi driver’s licence – I don’t think that’s a very good example to those working for the company.”

Mr Iqbal is entitled to appeal the decision via the magistrates’ court.