A BULB, which was out of alignment, was enough to land a Carlisle taxi driver 12 penalty points by Cumberland Council.

Andy Kidd appealed against the decision at a meeting of the council's regulatory sub-committee at the Civic Centre in Carlisle on Monday.

Mr Kidd, who is a licensed Hackney Carriage driver, private hire driver, private hire operator and vehicle owner, received the points for having a unlicensed vehicle or using a licenced vehicle without insurance or without a valid periodical vehicle test.

Amanda Bailey, a licensing officer at the council, told members that the vehicle in question had no valid MOT and it had been used by a driver for a school contract on November 2.

She said that, as the owner of the vehicle, it was Mr Kidd's responsibility to ensure the MOT was up to date and he admitted that it was "human error" and he now has a "robust system in place" to make sure such an error did not happen again.

Christopher Bray, who is the secretary of the Hackney Carriage and private hire association, was acting on behalf of Mr Kidd and said they were "surprised" at the time that the test was not in place and added: "He and his business partner run a very good business."

Mr Kidd said: "I've run cars for a long and I just find it hard to believe I've got maximum points when I tried my best."

He said that the reason the car failed the test was because a bulb was out of alignment and in the past it would have been normal practice for the mechanic to just put it back into the correct alignment.

Ms Bailey told members that Mr Kidd was not the driver of the vehicle at the time of the offence and the other driver was not aware of the defect. She added: "The responsibility was with the owner."

After a short period of deliberation members decided that the appeal was not upheld.

Speaking after the ruling Mr Kidd said that he was planning to appeal against the decision and the hearing would be at the city's magistrate’s court.