A PRIVATE hire driver has been hit with a fine after driving without the correct licence.

Eastleigh Borough Council has successfully prosecuted Jamshid Yossofi after a customer complained that they had to pay upfront.

The 44-year-old of Castle Road, Southampton has now been fined £260 after pleading guilty at Southampton Magistrates Court to plying for hire without a valid Hackney carriage licence.

Yossofi was convicted after picking up a passenger who had not pre-booked their journey through a private hire operator.

Yossofi is licensed with Eastleigh Borough as a private hire driver and the court heard that on September 30 last year, whilst licensed as a private hire driver with the authority, he picked up a member of the public from Eastleigh railway taxi rank as if he were a hackney carriage driver.

A private hire driver must receive his bookings directly from a licensed private hire operator and not directly from the customer.

Magistrates heard that the passenger made a complaint to the private hire operator as the driver had asked for money up front.

The operator then reported the incident to the Borough Council’s Licensing Section who carried out an investigation.

The council’s prosecutor, Kieran Laven said: “Mr Yossofi accepted before the court that what he did was wrong. The sentence serves as a good deterrent to other private hire drivers who might be tempted to take a job they aren’t entitled to.”

Eastleigh’s cabinet member for transport, David Airey, added: “Members of the public may not realise that private hire drivers must have a booking before they collect a passenger. Only a hackney carriage may park at a taxi rank looking for trade, or be hailed from the side of the road.”

He added: “The council takes this issue very seriously and is committed to protecting both the safety of the public and the council’s licensed hackney carriage trade.”

Yossofi was fined £150 and ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge and £90 contribution towards the council’s costs in bringing the prosecution costs.