Three Northampton minicab drivers have been prosecuted and fined for illegally touting for business.
Magistrates ordered Makbul Ahmed, Gulam Rabbani and Peter Greaves to pay a total of £1,800 plus court costs after they were caught breaching the terms of their licences.
According to licensing authority Northampton Borough Council regulations, only Hackney carriages are authorised to pick up passengers from the street and private hire drivers invalidate their insurance if they accept fares not booked in advance.
Sky Taxis worker Ahmed, aged 49, of The Headlands, Northampton, was caught plying for hire in Wellingborough Road last September and was fined £200.
He was also fined £400 for driving without insurance, had six penalty points added to his driving licence and was ordered to pay £400 towards prosecution costs.
Rabbani, a 37-year-old Bounds Taxi driver, of Bakewell Court, Lumbertubs, Northampton, was fined £400 for plying for hire in The Drapery in September, driving without insurance and not displaying his private hire badge. He was also given six penalty points and ordered to pay £200 costs.
Mayfair Taxi driver Greaves, aged 54, of Martins Lane, Hardingstone, was given six penalty points and fined £800 for the same offences and charged £200 costs.
All three drivers also risk being stripped of their private hire licences.
Martin Kean, secretary of the Northampton Private Hire Association, said: "When the vast majority of private hire drivers are acting legally, it is unfortunate when the minority bring the rest down."
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