Wednesday June 10th 2026
Glasgow City Chambers
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Drew Sandelands
A private hire driver has been suspended after he was caught allegedly ‘pirating’ for fares.
Muhammad Janaghir was given an eight-week ban by licensing chiefs in Glasgow following an incident in December last year.
Councillors on the city’s licensing committee made the decision after a complaint from the taxi and private hire enforcement unit.
Pirating is where a private hire car driver picks up passengers off the street who have not booked in advance.
While black cabs are allowed to take people without a booking, private hire cars are restricted to passengers with a pre-arranged booking.
Officers in the council’s enforcement team had seen a “male conversing with a private hire driver through the front passenger window”.
“As the male was entering the vehicle, officers approached the vehicle, identified themselves and asked if this was a pre-booked hire,” the committee heard.
“The driver said he wasn’t working at the time, he hadn’t been able to log on to his Uber app as there was a problem with the app.”
Officers told the driver that taking passengers without a booking was “a breach of his private hire car driver’s licence conditions”.
At an interview in February, the driver said he had been waiting for his account with ride-hailing app Uber to be activated.
He claimed he had dropped a friend off in town and then “pulled over onto Union Street to check again if I had been approved on the Uber system but I still hadn’t”.
Councillors were told the driver had said: “That was when I was approached by a man, who was from Europe and didn’t speak very good English. He showed me a map and asked me to take him.
“I was on my way home so I told him I would take him but I wasn’t going to take any money from him. I realised this was a mistake and I wouldn’t do it again.”
Mr Janaghir did not attend the licensing hearing. When drivers ‘pirate’ for trade, their insurance is invalidated.
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