Taxi driver fined for offering unlicensed Regatta rides

A private hire taxi driver has been ordered to pay more than £700 after pleading guilty to illegally plying for hire during Henley Regatta.

Mr Shabuddin Parvas, 54, of Cressingham Road, Reading, pleaded guilty at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Friday 15 November to unlawfully plying for hire in Henley and failing to wear his driver’s badge.

The court heard that on 5 July 2024, licensing officers from South Oxfordshire District Council carried out checks to ensure that taxis were operating legally during the Henley Regatta. 

Mr Parvas was observed in a prominent location on Thameside, near the main pedestrian route between the Regatta site and Henley train station.  When an undercover officer approached the vehicle, Mr Parvas agreed to transport six passengers to Reading train station without a pre-booking. 

As a private hire driver licensed by Reading Borough Council, Mr Parvas is not authorised to accept passengers without a booking as that amounts to plying for hire which can only be carried out in the district that you are licensed.  Outside of Reading Borough, he is restricted to transporting pre-booked passengers.

Henley Regatta is persistently targeted by unlicensed drivers from outside the area and 16 have been successfully prosecuted for operating illegally over the last three years, with further court hearings listed over the next few months.

By plying for hire in South Oxfordshire, Mr Parvas was operating illegally meaning that neither he nor the vehicle he was driving would have gone through the vigorous checks carried out by South Oxfordshire District Council.  These checks are to ensure drivers are fit and proper and their vehicles are safe and properly tested. Offering rides illegally undermines public safety as those journeys would be untraceable and often at inflated fares.  It also undermines and steals trade from properly vetted and licensed drivers operating within their designated areas.

Taking mitigating factors and an early guilty plea into account, Magistrates fined Mr Parvas £145 and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £58 and £500 in prosecution costs. 

Cllr Georgina Heritage, Cabinet Member for Communities at South Oxfordshire District Council said: “Drivers operating without proper authorisation put passengers and other road users at risk and deprive properly licensed operators of legitimate work.  We will continue to carry out checks to stop those who are operating illegally and we hope this conviction serves as a reminder to all drivers to understand and follow the terms of their licences.”