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Bristol private hire driver caught with marked banknotes after accepting illegal £30 street-hail journey from police posing as passenger
- Perry Richardson
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
A Bristol private hire driver has been refused a licence renewal after a police test-purchase operation found that he accepted an unbooked cash journey while uninsured for the trip.
Bristol City Council’s Public Safety and Protection Sub-Committee concluded that the driver, identified in published minutes as HHH, was no longer a fit and proper person to hold a Private Hire Driver licence.
The incident happened in Stokes Croft at around 12.57am on Sunday 28 December 2025. PC Pires, who was working in plain clothes, approached the driver’s private hire vehicle and asked whether he was available.
According to evidence accepted by the committee, HHH asked where the officer was travelling and whether he had cash. PC Pires said he had £30 and wanted to travel to Bristol Temple Meads station.
The driver agreed to the journey and accepted three marked £10 notes. PC Pires then contacted PC Quinton, who stopped the vehicle on Bond Street.
The minutes state that, after realising police were stopping the vehicle, HHH told PC Pires: “You are my friend ok.”
When asked to produce evidence of a booking, HHH said the passenger was his friend but could not provide his name. He denied agreeing a fare or receiving the £30.
PC Quinton arrested the driver on suspicion of illegally plying for hire and driving without insurance. A search found the three marked banknotes in an inside pocket of HHH’s jacket. He was subsequently de-arrested and reported for both alleged offences.
HHH later told council officers that PC Pires had said his father was stranded at the railway station and had pleaded for help. He claimed he believed the passenger was desperate, had quoted approximately £10 and was then handed £30.
The driver maintained at the committee hearing that he had been trying to assist somebody who appeared to need help. He acknowledged breaking the law but argued that the police should not have acted as they did.
PC Quinton told the committee that officers used in test-purchase operations were trained not to coerce or persuade drivers into committing an offence. He said the operation gave the driver an opportunity to break the law but did not pressure him into doing so.
Members accepted the evidence given by PC Pires and PC Quinton as reliable and truthful. They found HHH’s changing account to be inconsistent and untruthful.
The committee decided on the balance of probabilities that the driver had unlawfully plied for hire and, by accepting the unbooked journey, invalidated his insurance.
Members said illegal plying for hire was a serious matter because it deprived licensed hackney carriage drivers of trade and placed passengers at risk.
HHH applied to renew his licence on 14 January 2026. His previous licence ran from April 2023 until 22 January 2026, although the minutes record that he had held a private hire driver licence since at least 2003.
The renewal was refused under section 61(1)(b) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 on the ground of “any other reasonable cause”.
