Lance Bradley declared fit and proper to drive taxis in Southampton (From This is Hampshire)

Lance Bradley declared fit and proper to drive taxis in Southampton

1:47pm Tuesday 16th March 2010 in

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A CABBIE who romped with a drunken teenager in the back of his taxi has been cleared to get back behind the wheel.

Two months after jurors unanimously cleared Lance Bradley of raping a 19-year-old student, he has got his licence back after passing a “fit and proper person”

test.

But city councillors who made the decision have been criticised for encouraging unacceptable standards of behaviour because the 52-year-old admitted having sex with the girl in the back of his cab.

Romsey MP Sandra Gidley said: “Even if the sex was consensual, I think it’s not right that any taxi driver would succumb to temptation and have sex on duty.

“I’m just uncomfortable with the idea of this apparently being acceptable. There’s a judgement call there. Anybody in any walk of life may come across inappropriate approaches and it’s a test of professionalism that you deal with that properly."

It took jurors less than an hour to clear Mr Bradley, from Sandpiper Road, Southampton, of raping the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who he had picked up as a late night fare from the city’s Leisure World complex.

He accepted they had sex in the back of his cab, but has always insisted she instigated it.

The case led to calls for a code of conduct to be introduced for city cabbies, but that has not yet been drawn up.

Mr Bradley told the Daily Echo he doesn’t know if he will ever drive a taxi again, because of the devastating effect the whole ordeal has had on his life.

He said getting his taxi licence back was motivated by wanting to clear his name over his “moment of stupidity”, more than a desire to return to the job.

“I just want to get on with my life – I’m fed up with having fingers pointed at me for something I haven’t done,” said Mr Bradley.

“This is the second major hurdle I’ve had to get over in proving my innocence. This has been so emotionally draining. It’s destroyed my marriage and I’ve lost my home and my family.”

Mr Bradley added that he accepts he was wrong to have sex with the girl. He said: “There’s no way that anyone should do anything to a customer in a car – it should never happen.

“I’ve already agreed with the union that I will do a seminar that show the pitfalls of one stupid moment. I don’t want anyone to go through what I’ve gone through.”

He has received the full backing of colleagues.

Perry McMillan, chairman of the Southampton cab section of the Unite union, said he hopes Mr Bradley could now “get his life back together”.

He said: “This is a wrong that’s been righted. He’s paid a heavy price for what happened, and I hope he can educate other drivers now.”