A man who provided fake taxi plates has pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud relating to taxi licensing at a hearing back in June Nottingham Crown Court is to be sentenced.
Waseem Akhtar, 32, will appear again at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday (August 28) to hear his sentence.
Despite never being a taxi driver for Gedling Borough Council, Mr Akhtar sold a vehicle to a third party claiming it was licensed with the council. He tampered with the license plate to change the date and produced a fake paper license in order to make a profit.
Although the plates may have appeared convincing to passers-by, an eagle-eyed member of staff from the council’s Licensing department spotted the inauthenticity and reported it immediately.
Mr Akhtar is a repeat offender of fraud. He was jailed in 2013 for six months for falsely claiming he held a taxi licence, following previous convictions for the same offence. He was also jailed for a further two months after admitting another fraud charge, for submitting false receipts for journeys he had not completed.
Since the hearing in June, Mr Akhtar has been on bail with the conditions of not sitting in the front of a private hire vehicle or Hackney Carriage.
Leader of the Council, Councillor John Clarke said: “Our staff spotted the fake plate immediately and we expect the courts to take appropriate action against this man.
“When we get into a taxi we trust them to be properly licenced, so we want to assure residents that we will continue to be vigilant against this. If anyone sees anything irregular we ask them to report it to us.”
