An Uber driver barred from operating taxis had his pleas to reclaim his private hire licence denied after a court heard he left customers afraid and sexually abused.
The Old Bailey heard that Ahmed Salamin, 42, threatened to murder one lady and her children when she informed him he had gone the wrong way.
He offered another lady to ‘come and stay at my property in Pakistan,’ and even a hardened jail worker was taken aback by his explicit filthy language.
But Salamin was so keen to get back behind the wheel that he filed two appeals against his denial of a private hire permit.
Salamin has been the subject of many complaints from passengers going back to March 2016.
On March 7, 2016, a lady said he drove recklessly and left her stranded on the side of a major dual road.
The prosecutor, Genevieve Moss, read the passenger’s complaint to the court.
‘My experience was awful to say the least,’ she claimed. I felt threatened and unsafe.
‘The driver made a risky U-turn on Kew Bridge Road, and we were beeped at by many vehicles.’ ‘I felt quite unsafe.’ We were hit by a truck on the way to Chiswick because of his risky driving.
‘The truck pulled over, as did Ahmed, and I came to a halt because the lorry driver had phoned the police.’ As a consequence, I was left alone on the side of the dual road.
‘The most disturbing component of the trip was how hazardous the encounter was owing to Ahmed’s driving.’
In another accusation, a lady claimed in June 2016 that she left Salamin’s vehicle ‘feeling sexually assaulted’ after he ‘over-complimented her during the drive.’
When Salamin arrived at his destination, he reportedly stated, ‘No, I’d want to spend a few more minutes with you.’
Salamin reportedly welcomed a lady in May 2017 by shaking her hand before dragging her in to kiss her’six or seven times.’
According to one passenger, Salamin “spoke some improper things and made me feel insecure as a lady traveling alone.”
In June 2017, a lady filed a complaint with Uber stating that Salamin ‘threatened to murder her and her children’ following a dispute over a missed turn.
Other charges include asking a lady to Pakistan to stay ‘at his residence,’ drinking while driving, using a phone while driving, and cursing obscenely.
In September 2018, one passenger said, ‘As someone who works in a jail, I’m not one to be outraged by filthy language, but this made me feel insecure…’
As a consequence of these accusations, Uber cancelled Salamin’s account on July 29, 2020.
Salamin’s attempt to renew his private hire car license in Summer 2021 was rejected by Transport for London, and his application for a new license was also denied in January of this year.
Salamin filed an appeal against the ruling in April, but it was dismissed. He was appealing for the second time in the Old Bailey.
Salamin rejects all of the charges against him, stating that he does not recall the occurrences and that his supposedly sexual statements were’misinterpreted.’
When queried about the event in June 2017, Salamin said he was the one who filed the complaint against the lady.
‘She questioned me, ‘Why have you come this way?’ he said in court.
‘I said, ‘Can’t you see what’s going on?’
‘She said to me, ‘You son of a bitch,’ so I responded, ‘I’m a son of a bitch?’
‘We had an argument…the woman stepped out of the vehicle, opened the rear door, and smashed it into [a] bus.’
‘I didn’t see she’d damaged the automobile at the time.’
‘I shut the door, and she returned with police officers.’
Salamin started working with Bolt after his Uber account was suspended, but his account was quickly closed after more complaints were filed against him.
Salamin’s lawyer, Rosa Bennathan, argued that it is not her client’s terrible behavior that has landed him in court today, but Uber’s strategy of not adequately reviewing complaints because to the huge volume of clients.
Judge Alison Kay dismissed his appeal, saying, ‘In essence, we have to take ourselves in TFL’s shoes [and] determine, having respect to TFL’s policy and the legislation generally, whether Mr Salamin is a fit and suitable person to hold a license.’
‘A number of claims have been reported to and investigated.
‘Some of them we see as rather minor and maybe based on misunderstanding.
‘However, there are some that offer us more reason for worry.
‘There is tremendous worry among taxi drivers about the safety of individuals who ride with them.
‘There is one extremely severe accusation, connected to an incident on June 10, 2017, [in which] it has been claimed that Mr Salamin threatened to murder a passenger and her children.
‘There’s nothing to imply any basis for that accusation, and such a significant charge, if true and considered to be genuine, would have been followed by police.’
‘If this had been an individual complaint, we would have easily concluded that it was insufficient to deem Mr Salamin unfit and proper.’
‘However, this is not an isolated instance; he has a habit of improper behavior.
‘Although he denies ever doing so.
‘He does not explain away a lot of occurrences satisfactorily.
‘We believe such charges are unlikely to be unfounded.
‘The notion is that there is always an incentive to file a complaint in order to gain a refund, but when one analyzes the substance of what is stated, it seems to ring true and to contain the type of information one would anticipate if this were a real rather than a fraudulent complaint.
‘We are not convinced on the relevant criteria that Mr Salamin is a fit and suitable person to have a license, and hence we deny the appeal.’
Salamin was also sentenced to pay £500 in costs.
He said that even if his appeal had been granted, he would not have returned to Uber.
‘My life is upside down,’ he added.
‘I forgive. Even if she hadn’t damaged my door, I wouldn’t have pursued her.
‘I need to work, continue to work, and that’s all.’
Salamin supports his wife and two children, ages four and two, who reside in Pakistan with his parents.
He has been unable to work since losing his license, relying on Universal Credit and his decreasing funds.