A Dublin taxi driver, who admitted having sex with an allegedly “vulnerable” and drunk woman passenger after a date stood her up, has had his cab licence reinstated.
The man won an appeal at Dublin District Court against a decision by the Carriage Office to strip him of his public service vehicle licence under the Taxi Regulation Act.
He cannot be named due to a court order.
The woman reported him last year, but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) directed that no charges should be brought.
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In January, while the DPP’s decision was still awaited, the Carriage Office, which oversees licensing of taxis, revoked his permit under section 12 of the Taxi Regulation Act.
On Friday, the driver’s counsel, Eimear Dooley, said the case relates to the revocation of her client’s taxi licence by Garda Supt Stephen McAuley of the Carriage Office.
Reasons cited by the superintendent were her client’s admission of consensual sex and that this conduct was wholly inappropriate.
However, Ms Dooley said “this was something that was entirely in the sphere of his private life” and not impermissible in the taxi regulations.
The superintendent told the court the woman, who was a fare-paying passenger, was vulnerable. Asked about that, the officer told the court: “The person had been out drinking that night and had quite a difficult evening in relation to a date that stood her up and was quite upset about that.”
The driver did not testify during the hearing.
The court heard the DPP directed in May that the man would not be prosecuted.
Supt McAuley still wished to oppose the appeal: “The fact remains here that the applicant took advantage of a vulnerable person he was supposed to look after and had sex with her and that is not conduct that is expected”.
Ms Dooley argued her client has the presumption of innocence.
Ms Dooley stressed that the events happened in her client’s private life and that she searched the taxi regulations and could not find any mention of it being impermissible.
The superintendent referred to section 12.2 of the regulations, stating: “The need to ensure the safety and welfare of passengers in small public service vehicles and other road users and any conduct by the licence holder, and where the holder is a company, the conduct of any person which calls into question the holder’s suitability to hold the licence.”
He said a taxi driver’s primary role is to ensure the safety of vulnerable people while they are passengers.
He said he was notified after the allegations were made and could not “unsee” what he had learned of the man’s description of the events that evening.
Ms Dooely submitted that these points were hearsay.
The judge said the action taken by the superintendent in January seemed fair at that time. However, he described the DPP’s decision not to prosecute as a “dynamic change”, and, noting the submissions and the evidence stating that there was consensual sex, he could not see the basis for refusing the licence reinstatement.
