Smoking fine for Preston taxi driver

A driver has been fined for smoking in their vehicle

Azkar Hussain Aziz had been sanctioned for a similar offence in 2011 and paid a fixed penalty fee of £50.

However, earlier this year, he was observed by council officers on Cheapside lighting a cigarette and driving off having just dropped off a passenger.

Aziz, of Woodlands Avenue, failed to attend court earlier this month and the case was proven in his absence, Preston City Council said.

He was fined £200, made to pay the council’s costs of £272 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £30.

Coun Peter Moss, Cabinet member for planning and regulation, said: “Taxi drivers have a responsibility to protect the health of their passengers, and the law on not smoking in the workplace applies to their vehicles for this reason.

"We take non-compliance very seriously and prosecute offenders to safeguard people’s health.”