A taxi driver operating illegally in Stockton-on-Tees has cost the driver licenced by Redcar and Cleveland Council more than £600.

Teesside Magistrates Court, yesterday heard that Stockton Council's Trading Standards and Licensing officer caught Arif Ramzan, aged 38, of Oxford Road, Middlesbrough, plying for hire during a taxi enforcement operation. Observed by another Council officer, undercover licensing officers flagged down his out-of-town Private Hire vehicle, an activity only Hackney vehicles are licensed and insured to undertake.

Mr Ramzan pleaded guilty to an offence under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847, as amended. Magistrates fined him £250 and ordered him to pay £350 towards the Council’s prosecution costs plus a £15 victim surcharge.