TfL MiniCab Gang Who Stole £3m In High-End Cars Jailed For Total Of 46 Years

A prolific east London gang caught on camera at a McDonald’sdrive-thru in one of a haul of £3 million worth of stolen cars have been jailed for 46 years.

The eight-person gang broke into peoples’ homes during the night to steal car keys before making off in expensive Range Rovers, BMWs and Mercedes.

Some of the stolen motors were exported intact to Africa while others were broken down for parts.

The criminals also drove about in minicabs emblazoned with Transport for London’s “private hire” stickers to steal keyless cars by using technology to spoof the unlocking of the car – a technique often referred to as 'keyless car theft'.

Mugshots: Khuram Zaman and gang ringleader Manji Sandhu. (Met Police)

Police caught them after raiding a pub in east London’s Manor Park on August 17 last year, belonging to the father of the gang’s ringleader, Manjit Sandhu, 32, where they found bags of stolen car keys in the basement.

Officers also found key programming technology, blank keys and a tool for picking car locks.

Sandhu went into hiding but police tracked him and his fellow gang members down during raids at their home addresses.

Guilty: Sufiyan Mahmood and Faisal Khan. (Met Police)

Police discovered the gang had carried out more 120 crimes between March 2015 and August last year, working out as more than seven a month.

A dash cam on one of the stolen BMWs caught the criminals on camera as they got in and out of the car while CCTV footage from McDonald’s drive thru pictures two of the gang members in a stolen car.

The prosecution also used evidence from Sandhu's own CCTV system to show him leaving home in the early hours of the morning in order to commit offences.

Gang members: Heena Bux and Geoffrey Cairns. Met Police car theft gang (Met Police)

Sandhu's offending was so brazen that he even committed an offence on the very same day that he received a suspended sentence for involvement in the theft of another vehicle. That incident is not related to this case.

Detective Inspector Caroline Clooney, who leads the Met's Organised Vehicle Crime Unit, said: "This was an extremely prolific and well-organised criminal gang.

                     

Found guilty: Mohammed Ariful Islam (Met Police)

“They brought distress to many victims whose homes they broke into, who not only lost their vehicles but in many cases were traumatised by the thought of someone having been in their house while they slept.

“Although the case involved over 120 offences, it is clear that this team were responsible for an even greater number of crimes."

Sandhu, of Fairlawns Close in Hornchurch, Heena Bux, 21, of Walwood Road in Leytonstone, Khuram Zaman, 20, of Violet Road in Walhamstow and Mohammed Islam, 21, of Knox Road, Forest Gate, were all found guilty of conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to steal.

Sufiyan Mahmood, 19, of Stracey Road in Forest Gate, and Faisal Khan, 23, of Chestnut Avenue, Forest Gate, both pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit burglary and to steal.

Nicked: Some of the car keys found by police in east London raids. (Met Police)

Humzah Bhariwala, 23, of Dunbar Road, Forest Gate, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary while Geoffrey Cairns, 55, of Swindon Lane, Romford was found guilty of conspiracy to commit burglary after having pled guilty to conspiracy to steal.

Sandhu was sentenced to 12 years in prison, Bux was jailed for a total of nine years and six months, Zaman was sentenced to a total of four years, six months in prison and Islam was sentenced to three years in prison.

Mahmood was jailed for seven years and six months and Khan was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.

Cairns was sentenced to three years and six months in prison while Bhariwala was jailed for a total of 18 months.

from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2oHfRaA
via IFTTT

£1m-a-year Rachel, Favours To Uber From Number Ten And The Growing Stench Of Scandal

£1m-a-year Rachel, favours to Uber from No10 and the growing smell of scandal: GUY ADAMS investigates the links between Cameron's government and the taxi firm

Uber PR chief Rachel Whetstone, 49

When Uber hired Rachel Whetstone, less than two years ago, it wasn’t just getting a new PR chief. 

Instead, for a sum rumoured to exceed £1 million a year, the Silicon Valley firm was obtaining the services of a woman with excellent political connections.

For Whetstone was the wife of Cameron’s confidant and former policy guru Steve Hilton, as well as godmother of his late son Ivan. 

She’d also been a key member of his inner circle since the early Nineties.

Now 49, the charismatic political fixer first met the future PM while they worked together (alongside a young George Osborne) at Conservative HQ. 

Later, she became political secretary to Michael Howard, the then Tory leader, regarded as Cameron’s early mentor.

By the time the man she calls ‘Dave’ became PM, their families were virtually joined at the hip. 

Indeed, Whetstone and Hilton often spent weekends at their £1.2 million Oxfordshire farmhouse, seven miles from the PM’s constituency home, where they’d meet Dave and his wife Samantha and go for pub lunches or load their two kids into a fashionably-battered Volvo, and pop round to have pizza and red wine with their powerful chums.

The appearance given by this cosy relationship may have raised concerns considering the extraordinary — and unprecedented — level of access enjoyed by Whetstone’s then employer, Google.

Senior executives of the trendy U.S. search engine met with Tory ministers on average once a month during Cameron’s first four years as PM, according to Freedom of Information disclosures. This included three encounters with Cameron himself and four with Osborne.

So astonishing was Google’s hold on the PM’s affections that senior Tory peer Lord Younger (the minister in charge of intellectual property) once complained that the company’s ‘power’ was such that ‘they have access to higher levels than me in No 10’.

Whetstone was the wife of Cameron’s confidant and former policy guru Steve Hilton (pictured)

There was perhaps further cause for raised eyebrows when, despite public concern over Google’s business practices, Cameron and Osborne did next to nothing while in power to regulate the firm, to curb its vigorous tax-dodging, or to suggest laws that might leave it vulnerable to copyright lawsuits.

Fast forward to May 2015, and Uber — which runs a smartphone app that allows users to hail a minicab at the touch of a button — found itself in need of a helping hand.

The fast-growing Californian company was facing a number of moves to curb its growing domination of the British taxi market.

It stood accused, among other things, of driving traditional cabbies out of business, and clogging London’s streets with extra cars, polluting the air and making the city centre more congested than at any time in its modern history. 

Rape or assault claims were being made against its drivers at a rate of one every 11 days, while it also appeared to be flouting a number of rules governing the heavily-regulated taxi industry.

See full article, click link below :

http://ift.tt/2pbWBjl

from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2oCzIrC
via IFTTT

Transport for London and Downing Street are facing an investigation from the Information Commissioner's Office, Liberal Democrat Caroline Pidgeon revealed in City Hall on Tuesday night (11 April).

The chair of the London Assembly's transport committee, speaking at a black cab event organised by Ukip's Peter Whittle and David Kurten, said she had asked the watchdog to launch the probe.

The development comes after emails and other documents, obtained by Pidgeon using the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that aides close to David Cameron urged Mayor of London Boris Johnson to drop proposed extra regulations on private hire app Uber in 2015.

Why advertise with us

Transport for London (TfL) dropped the plans, including making Uber customers wait five minutes between booking their car and starting their journey, in 2016 after more than 200,000 people signed a petition.

"That correspondence between Downing Street and TfL, those were my FoI requests. I have now got the Information Commissioner investigating because Number 10's response completely differed from TfL," Pidgeon said.

The comments come after hundreds of black cabs blocked Whitehall, Westminster, on 6 April over the revelations. Grant David, chairman of the London Cab Drivers Club (LCDC), urged Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to meet with his colleagues.

"The future can be rosy. but we need TfL to regulate [Uber over private hire apps]," he added. "If they don't regulate, and we've got 120,000 mini-cabs doing the same job as me in a vehicle that's half the price and half the fair, we will just become a tourist attraction on the top of a tin of biscuits."

Helen Chapman, the general manger for TfL's taxi and private hire division, told the audience at City Hall that "we all want to work together to make sure that there's a great future and there's another 350 years of taxis in London, which are iconic and recognised around the world".

Why advertise with us

An Uber spokesperson said: "More than 200,000 Londoners signed a petition in autumn 2015 against plans for things like five minute minimum waiting times. They were also condemned by consumer groups, the media, and even the Competition and Markets Authority.

"While some of these absurd measures were dropped Transport for London is still pursuing proposals which would be bad for Londoners and drivers who use our app. For example, we are currently challenging through the courts plans for written English tests, which TfL's own estimates say would lead to 33,000 private hire drivers losing their livelihoods."

UPDATE: 11:40 BST, 12 April

A spokesperson for the ICO said: "Anyone who has asked for official information from a public authority and thinks they have wrongly withheld information or incorrectly handled a request can bring their complaint to the ICO. We are aware of the issues raised and are making enquiries."

from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2osfMaz
via IFTTT

Uber PR boss Rachel Whetstone latest to quit company

Uber’s head of communications has become the latest executive to leave the embattled ride-sharing firm. 

Chief executive Travis Kalanick confirmed Rachel Whetstone’s departure in an all-staff email on Tuesday. 

No reason has been given for her resignation, though it follows months of turbulence at Uber. 

Ms Whetstone joined the company from Google in 2015. “I am incredibly proud of the team we have built,” she said in a leaving statement. 

"Just as when I left Google, a strong and brilliant woman will be taking my place. I joined Uber because I love the product - and that love is as strong today as it was when I booked my very first ride six years ago.” 

Jill Hazelbaker, who had deputized for Ms Whetstone, will take over. Uber would not say if the move would be immediate. 

Mr Kalanick emailed staff on Tuesday afternoon to share the news - and with it, attached a picture of himself and Ms Whetstone on a recent hiking trip. 

"I am looking forward to having her as an advisor for years to come,” he wrote. 

“With many more long hikes along the Skyline Trail.” 

He added: "Rachel was way ahead of the game when it came to many of the changes we needed to make as a company to ensure our future success - from promoting cross-functional teamwork to improving diversity and inclusion.” 

Out the door

This year has seen Uber struggle under the weight of negative press. 

A campaign to “#deleteuber” is said to have cost the company hundreds of thousands of accounts, though it is hard to be sure of the genuine impact. 

Serious accusations of sexual harassment and discrimination made by a former employee prompted the firm to launch an internal investigation led by Eric Holder, former president Barack Obama’s top police chief. 

Mr Kalanick was in February filmed in a car berating an Uber driver after he complained about low fares. 

And the future of the company's self-driving car programme is under serious threat thanks to a lawsuit claiming Otto - acquired by Uber - stole self-driving technology from Google. 

And then there were the resignations: Amit Singhal, who had been Uber’s head of engineering, left after it emerged he failed to disclose a sexual harassment allegation at his former employer, Google. 

Then last month, Uber’s president Jeff Jones left the company after only six months in the job. 

And now Rachel Whetstone who, unlike Mr Jones, has left the company on seemingly civil terms. 

That said, the timing of her departure will do little to help the company as it continues to roll-out its presumably long-term strategy for restoring Uber’s reputation.

Source : BBC Tecnlogy 

from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2psKRZ4
via IFTTT

Minicab driver, 44, ‘killed a star ballet dancer while on phone

Minicab driver, 44, ‘killed a star ballet dancer while on a hands-free phone call as his victim made his way to his final performance of Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man’

A minicab driver killed a star ballet dancer while making a hands-free phone call as the victim made his way to perform the lead in his final Sadler’s Wells performance, a court heard today. 

Abdul Qayyum, 44, was driving a Mercedes S Class when he knocked Jonathan Ollivier, 38, off his motorbike, throwing him into a lamppost on Farringdon Road Clerkenwell, north London.

Mr Ollivier, who was due to star in the final performance of The Car Man at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, suffered catastrophic head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene just before 12pm on August 9 last year.

Qayuum, who denies one count of causing death by careless driving, took no evasive action at all before clipping the rear pannier of Mr Ollivier’s bike, the Old Bailey heard. 

Mr Ollivier was described by The Car Man's choreographer Matthew Bourne as ‘one of the most powerful and charismatic dancers of his generation’.

>CLICK HERE FIR FULL ARTICLE<

from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2oZo2Nu
via IFTTT

Have We Been Led Down The Electric Garden Path ? Manufacturers Claim New Diesel Cars Can Improve Air Quality.

Car manufacturers have hit back at the recent spate of negative comments about diesel vehicles, saying that the latest incarnations are “the cleanest in history” and “light years away from their older counterparts”.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said diesel cars could play an important role in helping improve air quality in towns and cities and in tackling climate change. 

A government report published in April 2016 showed that diesel cars being sold in the UK emit an average of six times more nitrogen oxide in real-world driving than the legal limit used in official tests. 

Since then, a number of schemes have been mooted to encourage drivers to give up diesel vehicles, including the possibility of a government-run scrappage scheme.

Last week, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, announced a new charge on diesel cars driving into the city. Under the plans, drivers of diesel cars that are more than four years old in 2019 and petrol cars that are more than 13 years old will pay £12.50 a day on top of the congestion charge in an attempt to cut air pollution.

In a list entitled “10 facts you need to know about diesel”, the SMMT said that some recent reports had failed to differentiate between older diesel cars and those on sale today, which comply with Euro 6 emissions standards, adding: “This is unfair and dismissive of progress made.”

The organisation said the latest vehicles featured special filters and technology that converted most of the nitrogen oxide (NOx) from the engine into harmless nitrogen and water before it reached the exhaust. These cars will be exempt from the new London charges.

It added: “Contrary to recent reports, diesel cars are not the main source of urban NOx. In London, gas heating of homes and offices is the biggest contributor, responsible for 16%. While road transport as a whole is responsible for around half of London’s NOx, diesel cars produce just 11%, although concentrations will vary at different times depending on congestion.”

It said British car buyers registered almost 250,000 new diesel cars in March, more than in any month in history.

• Mike Hawes, the SMMT’s chief executive, said: “Euro 6 diesel cars on sale today are the cleanest in history. Not only have they drastically reduced or banished particulates, sulphur and carbon monoxide but they also emit vastly lower NOx than their older counterparts – a fact recognised by London in their exemption from the Ultra Low Emission Zone that will come into force in 2019.”
• 
  
• He added: “In addition to their important contribution to improving air quality, diesel cars are also a key part of action to tackle climate change while allowing millions of people, particularly those who regularly travel long distances, to do so as affordably as possible.”

from Taxi Leaks http://ift.tt/2oq7WOY
via IFTTT

The Blind Leading The Blind, But In The Kingdom Of The Blind The One Eyed Man Is King.... By Dave Davies