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A criminal who had every word of a court hearing translated insisted his English is good enough to drive a taxi.

Former takeaway worker Yawar Latif passed all of Newcastle City Council's licence checks - including the language aspect - to get his hackney carriage licence.

However, that was stripped after background checks exposed Latif's shady past.

He hadn't told the council that he'd almost been jailed for flogging 20,000 dodgy cigarettes from the back of a car.

The dad-of-one pleaded for his licence back, believing he only needed to tell the council about convictions for driving or violence.

However, magistrates refused to grant it while they, along with other court officials, questioned Latif's grasp of the English lanaguage.

Through a translator, he told Newcastle Magistrates' Court that he'd make small talk with passengers while directions weren't a problem due to his "satisfactory" English.

(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

His own solicitor Mohammad Affab replied: "Yet here you are today with an interpreter - why is that?"

The ex-Uber and Budget Taxis driver claimed due to the "circumstances" of the case, he wanted to ensure he understood everything so his interpreter translated "every word".

And others questioned if he had even understood forms he had signed when his licence was initially granted in 2017.

It is understood Latif appeared before that committee hearing without a translator.

Giving evidence, Newcastle City Council officer Gerrard Smith said applicants were not expected to have "perfect" English.

However he added: "We do expected them to know what is being said."

However it was Latif's excise fraud conviction, where police found 20,000 counterfeit Lambert and Butler cigarettes and 20.8 kilos of counterfeit hand-rolling tobacco, which ultimately cost him the licence.

He was handed 240 hours of unpaid work for the £10,000 plot while the council's regulatory committee ruled this July that he was no longer a "fit and proper person" to hold a licence.

The applicant, who lived in Elswick at the time of his conviction, repeatedly pleaded for a second chance by claiming he had been "punished already" by the courts.

"That was a stupid mistake I made," said Latif via his translator.

"I learned from that a very, very good lesson.

"If I knew anyone else who is doing (the offences he was convicted of) I'd persuaded them not to do that."

(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

He claimed he needed to drive to support his wife and child while both parents work around college course, with Latif training to be an electrician.

"I have to go to work and I have to earn something for my life and my child," he added.

"I'm not the same person as before."

Magistrates said character references had shown him to be a good husband and father, but they were unable to return his licence after questions were raised over his honesty due to offences council prosecutor Joanne Bagshaw said were not to be taken lightly.

"This is not a situation of someone buying a couple of extra sleeves of cigarettes back from their holiday," she added.