Cabbie prosecuted for snubbing blind person

A PRIVATE-hire driver has been fined for refusing to take a guide dog in his cab.

Mohammed Foysal (40), of Laxley Close, Oldham, was asked to pick up a fare outside B&Q Oldham and take the passenger to Shaw. But when Foysal arrived at the store he was heard to say he didn’t allow dogs in his car.

The refusal was reported to Oldham Council and Foysal told a licensing officer he was scared of the dog, which had licked him on a previous journey.

At Oldham Magistrates Court Foysal pleaded guilty to Oldham’s first prosecution under the Equality Act of 2010. He was fined £73 and ordered to pay costs of £320.

In a separate case, a shopkeeper was fined for selling alcohol to a child during a test purchase run by trading standards officers.

Last August a staff member at St Mary’s Convenience Store in Henshaw Street sold four cans of lager to a 15 year old.

The store’s owner, Ahmed Fahim Yousef Zada of Henshaw Street, was prosecuted as he is responsible for his employees’ actions.

Zada (29), who had previously been cautioned for the same offence in 2012, was fined £220 and ordered to pay costs of £350.