Cabbie Fined For Having Too Many Passengers Says One Person Was a Blow-Up Doll

A taxi driver in Manchester, England, was slapped with a $693.11 fine after he was stopped last weekend for having too many passengers in his cab. The legal limit is eight passengers, and cops say Bash Ali had nine passengers. Bash protested the fine, telling authorities he had eight human passengers and one inflatable mannequin dressed as a woman.

Paul Scott, prosecuting, told the court that the officers had spotted the yellow cab driving along Whitworth Street at around 9pm on Saturday, March 30. They said strobe lights were flashing inside and music was blaring out – with passengers shouting to people on the street. They pulled over the cab and counted seven women and two men in the back. Mr Scott added: “Under interview, he [Ali] stated that one of the passengers was a mannequin and not a human being. When it was put to him that two officers had performed a headcount he stated that the officers must have been mistaken. “There are dangers, clearly, for anybody inside the vehicle and anybody outside the vehicle when it is overloaded. So essentially what the council says is that the vehicle was overloaded and that they were all human beings.” Ali, a married dad of four, told the M.E.N after the case: “I have no faith in the justice system. I see all sorts of sights in this job – men dressed as women, women dressed as men and yes, plenty of dolls dressed up too.”

source: Manchester Evening News

What so you say after that?