A taxi driver wrongly accused of being part of a gang of crooks is suing transport officials for loss of earnings after they failed to renew his licence for a year.

Eldon Robinson was arrested in a police sting in January 2019 after driving two men into Hamilton. His passengers, Tiberiu Gavrila and Radu Asavei, from Romania, claimed to be tourists but were in fact on the island to steal cash from the HSBC Bank using fake credit cards.

Gavrila and Asavei were later jailed for one year after pleading guilty to conspiracy to remove stolen money from the island.

Mr Robinson was arrested on suspicion of being part of the fraud team and initially charged together with Gavrila and Asavei. The case was finally thrown out in July 2020 because of a lack of evidence.

The Transport Control Department renewed Mr Robinson’s taxi licence a month later — although it had expired in August 2019.

Mr Robinson said that officials deliberately kept the status of his licence in limbo until the outcome of the criminal proceedings against him, denying him his right to an assumption of innocence.

He also argued that they failed to provide any reason for not renewing his licence.

At a hearing before Larry Mussenden, the Chief Justice, Mr Robinson’s lawyer, Cameron Hill, said that his client suffered from health issues, including diabetes and hypertension, and needed to work a stationary job.

Mr Hill added that officials refused to meet Mr Robinson to explain why a decision to renew his licence was continually deferred.

The lawyer said that his client was later told in an unofficial phone call with a TCD employee that his application had been refused because he was still facing criminal charges.

He said that, while taxi drivers had to be screened for good character, the possibility of refusing to renew his licence because of an ongoing court case denied him his right to the assumption of innocence.

He added that, because Mr Robinson was unable to work for a year, he was plunged into debt and suffered stress that worsened his health problems.

Mr Hill confirmed that Mr Robinson had his licence restored in August 2020 — but he added that his client deserved answers and recompense for the stress and debt he suffered.

Eugene Johnston, for the respondent, argued that TCD told Mr Robinson that his application had been “deferred”, which held his application in a state of consideration.

He explained that the department was allowed to do this and did not have to disclose why.

Mr Johnston added that TCD did not receive Mr Robinson’s request to meet him in court until six months after his deferral letter.

He instead pointed to Mr Robinson’s previous criminal record, when he admitted in 2016 to possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

Mr Johnston agreed that Mr Robinson had long his paid his debt to society, but added that the Board for TCD could still take this into account.

He also said that Mr Robinson ultimately received his licence, which gave him no reason to continue with this case.

Mr Johnstone said: “One application was made on May 22, 2019 and one decision was made on August 13, 2020. Even if there was a process failure, Mr Robinson suffered no prejudice because of it.”

Mr Justice Mussenden adjourned the hearing to a date to be decided.

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