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A taxi driver who said that he was grabbed by the throat has had his licence revoked for allegedly threatening sexual violence. The private hire vehicle driver saw his licence taken away

from him months before it was due to expire as a result of messages that he had exchanged with a passenger, with a committee of councillors deciding that he wasn’t a suitable character to

hold the necessary licence. Confirmed minutes from Middlesbrough ’s Licensing Committee, held in February 2025, confirmed that the taxi driver in question had been licensed with

Middlesbrough Council since May, 2024, with the licence due to expire at the end of April, 2025. However, on January 30, council licensing officers were told that the driver’s account had

been suspended by his operator, as a result of an “incident” where he had taken a “direct booking from a female passenger without notifying the operator”. The driver had also been messaging

the passenger privately. The messages began on January 7, 2025 and started out as requests for payment of the fare, but became “abusive and threatening”. On January 31, the driver was

interviewed by council licensing officers. He said that while waiting for a job, a man and woman entered his car and the man “grabbed him by the throat” and insisted that they were taken to

an address. Despite not being booked in advance, the driver obliged “out of fear”. The driver stated that the woman had provided her phone number so payment could be made by bank transfer.

Minutes from the committee go on to reveal that the driver told officers that his phone was taken after the journey. When he went to go and retrieve the phone, the original man and another

insisted that the driver took them to another location in order to get his phone back. The driver obliged and his phone was then given back. Messages that were sent demanding payment were

deemed by the committee to contain a “serious threat of sexual violence against the female passenger”, although the driver had said that he believed he was talking to man not a woman when

sending “expletive” messages. He said in his interview that the messages were referencing “punching people” and not sexual violence, adding his English wasn’t the best. In an interview with

licensing officers, the driver “alleged that he was being blackmailed by the passengers to send them money, otherwise they would share the screenshots and report him to his operator,”

according to the meeting’s minutes. Councillors heard that the driver did not originally report the incident to the police as he was “terrified” of the individuals. The matter was

subsequently reported, although it had since been closed with no further action taken. The committee believed there were inconsistencies in the driver’s account of events and did not believe

that he thought he was talking to a man rather than a woman. The documents said: “The committee believed that the nature and seriousness of the driver’s messages, specifically the threat of

sexual violence, was a risk to public safety, and that the driver was not a "fit and proper" person, therefore, the decision was made to revoke the driver’s licence with immediate

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