Taxi drivers in Gloucestershire are being asked for their opinion on changes to current operational rules.

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Always book a licensed Gloucester Taxi.

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Suggested changes include a basic test in numeracy and literacy for new drivers with additional requirements for drivers from abroad.

Views are also being sought on whether private hire vehicles should have roof lights and new rules covering “stretched limousines” are planned.

Any comments should be submitted to the city council by Thursday.

Councillor Andrew Gravells, from Gloucester City Council, said: “This is really a matter of public safety and common sense.

“It makes sense for there to be consistency across the county.

“That will make things simpler and clearer for the travelling public.

“At the end of the day it is their safety which is of paramount importance.”

The city council will discuss the matter on 24 November.

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A 24-YEAR-OLD man wrote two false letters to Gloucestershire Constabulary claiming his friend was going to bomb a church and pizza shop, a court heard.

Furrukh Jamil, a married university graduate, wrote the letters after he fell out with the friend and wanted to get him into trouble with the police.

Teresa Perry, prosecuting at Stroud Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, November 3 explained that staff at the police HQ in Waterwells, Quedgeley and those at Barton Street police station in Gloucester each received the bomb hoax letters on September 17.

The matter was referred to special branch police who worked extra time over a weekend to discover the letters were fake.

After visiting the man implicated in the letters they were led to Jamil, a taxi driver, who lives in Russell Street, Gloucester.

They also found that his finger prints matched those on the letters.

Defending, Robert Welch said: “Jamil and his former friend met at university.

“Jamil lent him some money but they fell out after he failed to pay it back.

“After some unpleasant confrontations Jamil was at his wits end.

“He stupidly wrote these letters in the hope that his friend would get into trouble with the police.

“He has no previous convictions and was an exemplary member of society before this incident.”

Jamil, who has a child due in April, was given four months in prison for each of the bomb hoax letters. The sentences will run consecutively.

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