Glasgow man caught driving at 114mph gets private hire licence

A man who was disqualified from driving after he was caught going at 114mph has been granted a licence to drive private hires.

Glasgow’s licensing committee heard how a mobile camera recorded Aqale Mohammaed driving at “excessive” speed in 2019.

Police Scotland objected to his bid to become a private hire driver, but the applicant said he wanted to “try to prove that this will never happen again”.

Councillors decided to grant the licence for a restricted period of one year and issued the driver with a severe warning over his conduct.

Cllr Alex Wilson, SNP, who chairs the licensing committee, told the applicant his “exceptionally dangerous” driving could have killed someone.

A police officer said Mr Mohammaed had been disqualified for 70 days and fined £450 at Dumfries Justice of the Peace Court after he was observed travelling at 114mph in a 70mph section of the motorway.

He said Police Scotland did not believe the applicant was a “fit and proper person” to hold a private hire car driver’s licence.

Cllr Wilson asked Mr Mohammaed: “Did you catch Max Verstappen? What were you doing at 114mph?”

The applicant said there was “no justification for going at that speed”.

“That was excessively speeding, I can’t go back and change that. The only thing that I can do is try to prove that this will never happen again.”

Cllr Wilson said: “There’s never an excuse. I appreciate the fact that you are saying you want a second chance, if we give you a driving job that’s going to take you around our city, you have got to adhere to speed limits.

“You will be told on numerous occasions ‘go a bit faster, driver, I’m running late’ etc. What would you do?”

Mr Mohammaed said: “In the past, I would have been a bit empathetic and maybe gone slightly faster. In the situation I’m in, I will make sure that I go under the line or stay on the line to make sure I’m never exceeding the limit again.”

Cllr Wilson responded: “The safety of your passengers is paramount. Your livelihood will depend on you not breaking the law.

“I could understand if you were one or two miles over the speed limit but not 44, 114 is exceptionally dangerous and you could have killed yourself, you could have killed numerous other people.”