A former Fife cabbie who was denied a new taxi licence after being convicted of running down a two-year-old girl is appealing the decision through the courts.
Members of Fife Council’s regulation and licensing committee were told on Tuesday that Alexander Hudson, of Islay Road, Dunfermline, had lodged an appeal with a sheriff in relation to the committee’s decision to refuse him a one-year taxi/private hire car driver’s licence he had applied for back in October.
Mr Hudson, now 63, was found guilty in June 2016 of driving a car without due care and attention by failing to comply with a red light, failing to stop and colliding with a child.
The accident happened in St Leonard’s Street near the Asda in Dunfermline, and the girl involved, who was crossing the road with her father, avoided serious injuries.
Mr Hudson denied the charge against him but was found guilty following a trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, subsequently being fined £500 and given six penalty points on his driving licence.
His latest bid to regain a taxi licence went before Fife councillors on October 8, but regulation and licensing committee members voted seven to six in favour of refusal.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court previously heard how Mr Hudson had been branded an “amber gambler” by depute fiscal Dev Kapadia during his trial, but the taxi driver maintained the girl’s dad had been “exaggerating” and the child had run into his vehicle.
He said: “I definitely stopped before the white line and before the girl hit the car.
“It was static.
“I did my best to stop. I stopped well before she ran into the car.”
However, the girl’s father told the court she had been “trotting” over the road alongside him after the green signal to cross had come up.
He claimed the taxi then screeched to a halt after the beeping sound to cross had started – something which Mr Hudson has challenged.
After reviewing the case, Conservative councillors Dominic Nolan and Mick Green said they felt Mr Hudson had been punished and should have been granted a licence with a warning.
However, SNP councillor John Docherty, seconded by Labour councillor Alistair Cameron, moved that the licence be refused.
Mr Hudson declined to comment.
