A MINICAB firm has been given a formal warning after appearing to laugh off concerns about an illegal manoeuvre performed by one of its drivers.

A picture posted on Facebook over the summer showed a Wrose Village Taxis cab travelling on the wrong side of what is thought to be Valley Road, Bradford, in an attempt to jump a queue of traffic and included the message: “Totally down wrong side of road, completely blocking oncoming traffic...all to save 30 seconds.”

But the photograph was then shared by Wrose Village Taxis on its Facebook page with the boast: “Wrose Taxis...Driving In Bradford Town!!!! We Will Get You There On Time!!!!! Whatever It Takes....Lmfao.”

A further comment posted by Wrose Village Taxis and signed off ‘Aaron’ had said: “Ok. I believe that is Valley Road and Queens Road junction at traffic time.

“All the cars are wanting to go left on to Queens Road which is at a red light. The cars on Queens Road are parked up waiting for the same red light. The taxi wants to take a right on to Queens Road.

“Anybody who actually drives that road does this on a daily basis...myself included.

“It’s called peak time driving. I’m not defending or criticising the driver. But if you were in that taxi, 10 mins late for your kids at school etc, you would have a different perspective on life... #rantover.”

The post prompted an investigation by Bradford Council’s hackney carriage and private hire licensing service and now the authority has revealed that both the operator and the driver were given formal warnings.

A spokesman for Bradford Council said: “Following a thorough investigation we have concluded that both the driver and operator have not conducted themselves in line with the requirements of those holding a taxi licence.

“As this was a first offence both parties were issued with formal warnings which are proportionate to the offence and held on file.”

At the time, a representative for the firm had said the driver had been given a warning by the company and the issue had been dealt with, but also said it was not clear if the driver was actually working at the time.

This week, a spokesman for Wrose Village Taxis, based in Kings Road, Bradford, said the driver in question no longer worked for the company.

He said the company had also changed the way it handled its activity on social media sites like Facebook.

“Now, only management manage our social media,” he said.

But the spokesman also said the company had appealed the written warning and had “never heard anything” in response to its appeal.