Police fine taxi driver $100 over short running socks

[DJR-351]

Queenslands finest battling the evil doers on our roads...... :


James O'Loan
July 17, 2009 12:00am

."PAYBACK" and "an abuse of power" are how taxi drivers are describing the extraordinary actions of a police officer who fined a cabbie $100 for not pulling up his socks.

"That's just ridiculous, just crazy," Cab Drivers' Association of Queensland member Paul Henderson said.

"In 18 years that's the first time I've heard of it . . . it creates animosity between drivers and police even further."

CDAC secretary Lee Sims slammed the fine as "an intimidation just to get even" and "an abuse of power".

Mr Sims, who has been critical of Queensland Transport's management of the taxi industry, questioned whether police had the authority to issue the fine and its permissibility in court.

He said it was the first time he had heard of such a "petty" notice but conceded drivers by law had to be "neatly dressed" – an area open to interpretation.

The driver advocate said a recent government blitz on Brisbane drivers resulted in cabbies copping $400 fines for not having a 2009 version of a street directory, or for allowing a car's window tinting to peel.

The Courier-Mail yesterday obtained the ticket issued last month to taxi driver Kidd Moors in which the officer claimed the offence was: "Failed to dress neatly". He identified the evidence as "WHT/runners, short running socks".

Queensland Police Service yesterday was unable to respond in time to this newspaper's questions about the harshness of the fine or the frequency such fines were handed out.

Mr Moors, 41, from Narangba, said he intended to fight the "sock fine" in court, along with a fine for not wearing a seat belt.

Mr Henderson said dress rules for drivers included the need to wear a uniformed shirt that was tucked in, business trousers or tailored shorts with long socks pulled up and dress shoes.

[ryanstev]

WTF, all I can say.

[Melz]

Fashion police?

[Falc'man]

Bewildering. Now they're doubling up as fashion police. Edit: Melz beat me to it.

We're scraping the very bottom of the barrel when stuff like this happens.

[gtfpv]

I'M guessing this guy gave the police officer a mouthfull for getting a fine for not wearing a seat belt.

[rocketscientist]

Police should be fining people for wearing long socks. A travesty against fashion if ever there was one.

[GS608]

yep, there's always 2 sides to the story, the cabbie would have abused the cop for giving him the seatbelt fine. Cab drivers have a professional image to portray, so fair is fair.

[ILLaViTaR]

The sooner people realise laws are only there as a tool for the higher ups to control society the better. There's nothing just, logical and moral about the way things work.

[Bucknaked]

Too much tropical heat

[hame]

Unfortunately people given power over others feel obligated to use said power.

Happens in all walks of life.

[Wally]

Queensland making a laughing stock of itself as usual.

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by XR-CHIEF

yep, there's always 2 sides to the story, the cabbie would have abused the cop for giving him the seatbelt fine. Cab drivers have a professional image to portray, so fair is fair.

Considering you state there are always two sides to the story, where do you draw the conclusion that the cabbie would have abused the cop from the story reported....

An assumption is a proposition that is taken for granted, as if it were true based upon presupposition without preponderance of the facts....wiki

In other words, Assumption is the mother of all F***ups.....

[Full Noise]

I never thought that I’d ever see the day when I actually have sympathy for a taxi driver. Who gives a **** if he gave the copper attitude? Unless the copper actually wrote him up for abusing him, where‘s the proof of this?

The article doesn’t go into a lot of detail regarding the seat belt fine either. I wonder if he was written up for not wearing it at the taxi rank, otherwise, why would he bother fighting it in court as well?

[cant]

Revenue raising ????????
.
..

[Melz]

Originally Posted by cant

Revenue raising ????????
.
..

No sock raising... :

Still find it mildly amusing

[GasoLane]

Y'know I caught a cab in Tassie years ago. The driver was wearing a suit (the jacket was beside him) with white shirt and tie.

Didn't make him any better as a driver though!

[Ross-b]

Originally Posted by XR-CHIEF

yep, there's always 2 sides to the story, the cabbie would have abused the cop for giving him the seatbelt fine. Cab drivers have a professional image to portray, so fair is fair.

may be but thats up to the company to enforce the drivers uniform not the cops

how would you like a cop coming into ur place of work and fining you for not shaving properly

[msman]

Originally Posted by XR-CHIEF

yep, there's always 2 sides to the story, the cabbie would have abused the cop for giving him the seatbelt fine. Cab drivers have a professional image to portray, so fair is fair.

drive a taxi for a couple of weeks and i bet my left nut you will want to punch every cop in the face.

dad has been a owner driver now for 13+years and in the last 3-4 years he has met only one cop who spoke to him with some decency the others are ignorant who have no respect for anyone driving a taxi.

[ebxr8240]

Am I missing something ??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Cl0A7nOFw
Haha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_5gW...eature=related
Classic..
Good Ole Barry...

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

Am I missing something ??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Cl0A7nOFw
Haha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_5gW...eature=related
Classic..
Good Ole Barry...

God i miss that guy......... : : :

[SLO AU XR8]

Originally Posted by XR-CHIEF

yep, there's always 2 sides to the story, the cabbie would have abused the cop for giving him the seatbelt fine.

And good on him if he did. It is not legally required for a taxi driver to wear a seatbealt whilst they are on work hours. In QLD at least.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by SLO AU XR8

And good on him if he did. It is not legally required for a taxi driver to wear a seatbealt whilst they are on work hours. In QLD at least.

Wanna bet?

[EFPWR]

That's a load of bs. I'm a cabbie (in vic, but id imagine the rules aren't overly different in qld) but the cops can't fine for uniform problems, only the taxi authority up there.

And personally, I've never had a problem with cops whilst driving a taxi either.. ive even TRIED to get pulled into a RBT one day when I was bored.. no matter how hard i tried (didn't speed or anything) they kept flagging me on..

I'd daresay he was disrespectful to the cop..

[RG]

Originally Posted by msman

drive a taxi for a couple of weeks and i bet my left nut you will want to punch every cop in the face.

dad has been a owner driver now for 13+years and in the last 3-4 years he has met only one cop who spoke to him with some decency the others are ignorant who have no respect for anyone driving a taxi.

How dare after a few bad experiences they bundle all taxi drivers into the same basket.

You'd never do that would you...

[Full Noise]

Originally Posted by EFPWR

I'd daresay he was disrespectful to the cop..

How many Queensland coppers have you ever had to deal with? Respect is usually given by reasonable people until a bankrupt premier instructs the storm troopers to prop up the budget with garbage like this.

[fte50]

Originally Posted by DJR-351

."PAYBACK" and "an abuse of power" are how taxi drivers are describing the extraordinary actions of a police officer who fined a cabbie $100 for not pulling up his socks.

Geez, atleast the fella had some socks on. Around Melbs nth suburbs the cabbie fashion is barefoot and slippers. Thats surely gotta qualify for jail.

I can think of many more dire 'dress scenarios' innapropriate - though nothing is said.

[Jastel]

As a Queensland taxi driver/operator I can assure you that you DO have to wear a seatbelt so long as you DO NOT have a passenger in the taxi, even moving up at ranks etc, unless you have a medical exemption from QT.

If you have a passenger in the taxi a seatbelt is not compulsory for the driver, the logic being that you can jump out quicker if you are being attacked.

The law was only changed and enforced recently though.

Most companies have a uniform code to easily identify drivers and present a professional image to the public. Usually companies enforce it locally, I have never heard of Police doing it before.

They have been having a well needed crackdown lately on drivers, and to a lesser extent on cars, they are mainly looking for Visa violations from overseas drivers.

I think this particular fine is over the top though

[Rodp]

There has to be more to this story, it makes absolutely no sense to me as written. I cannot believe for a second that Police have the power to fine a cab driver for a 'sock violation'.

[Yaw]

Originally Posted by DJR-351

Mr Moors, 41, from Narangba, said he intended to fight the "sock fine" in court, along with a fine for not wearing a seat belt.

Having worked at service stations where there was a taxi base I can guess as to what is going on here.
I have heard similar stories in the past , but realating to smoking in the taxi.

My guess is the driver was pulled up for not wearing the seat belt with an empty taxi on the way home from work. (meaning the hail light was not on, therefore not on duty) Whilst not on duty taxi drivers are required to wear the seatbelt. He has then told the officer that he was in fact still working, and that is when (after giving conflicting stories) The officer has then charged him with the untidy dress whilst on duty.


In the past the stories I have heard is about smoking, A driver gets caught smoking in the taxi, he then tells them he is not on duty and using it as a private car. so they then charge the driver with not wearing the seat belt.

[AUIII]

did anyone see this guy's interview on the news? I think he should have been fined another $100 as he was wearing socks and thongs I know he was off duty but this sort of behavior should not go unpunished.