A SECRET hearing has been told that a taxi driver picked up a lone female outside a Hereford pub and pestered her for sex.

Deciding whether the driver, Mohammed Mashud Ahmed, was still a fit and proper person to be a taxi driver after the complaint, Herefordshire Council’s taxi and county transport officer panel met in a secret hearing.

There, the panel, made up of people from the council’s public protection, licensing and school transport teams, as well as an officer from West Mercia Police, decided that Mr Ahmed’s actions were “so serious and concerning as to public safety” that his licence should be taken off him.

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A confidential decision document of the meeting just seen by the Hereford Times said the panel heard that the lone female had been drinking and got into the taxi, H359, outside Wetherspoon in Commercial Road at 11pm one evening.

But during the journey, the vulnerable passenger said they were a sex worker after being asked what she did for a living. After that, the driver “harassed her for sex” and on several occasions asked for her phone number and “requested her services”.

She repeatedly said no and CCTV footage backed up her complaint. The panel told the driver and his solicitor at the hearing in June that he “took advantage” of a lone female late at night.

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He “persistently” asked for prices, and wanted to negotiate, saying that “he wanted her to provide discounted services that night either at her house or in the car”.

The panel said Mr Ahmed has responsibilities as a licensed driver to take her home safely as requested, but the passenger “had no choice” but to stop the journey short – leaving her to walk home along unlit country roads.

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Revoking Mr Ahmed’s licence, the panel unanimously said he abused his trust – and “public safety took precedence over any financial loss”.

Mr Ahmed seemed to show remorse, the panel said, and his legal representative said his actions, which were a “great mistake”, would “bring great shame on the Asian community if this was to get out”.

Herefordshire Council did not reply when asked why decisions about public safety made by the panel must be secret.