Taxi Driver Ban Urged
The Age
Tuesday January 22, 2002
An allegedly abusive taxi driver with a criminal conviction over a road-rage incident should be barred from driving cabs, Premier Steve Bracks said yesterday.
Bariow Mohamed Hussein Abukar's taxi driver's licence was cancelled by the Victorian Taxi Directorate. Then magistrate Phillip Goldberg late last year overturned the decision and ruled that the licence be suspended for six months.
Mr Abukar, who reportedly uses the name Hussein, can resume driving cabs on February 24, following a successful appeal.
Yesterday, Mr Bracks promised that all legal avenues would be investigated to try to have Mr Abukar's licence cancelled in line with the decision of the directorate.
``What has been disturbing to us as a government, I guess, is that that decision has been reversed," Mr Bracks said.
``We obviously took steps to remove the ability for the individual involved to have a licence, and the taxi directorate removed his licence and we support that principal and that decision. That was overturned by the courts."
He said there appeared to be no error of law in the magistrate's decision, which would provide the basis for an appeal.
``We'll still examine that and see if there is some cause for an appeal, because we want our original decision upheld - that is the original decision of the taxi directorate - to withhold the licence of that individual."
© 2002 The Age