FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: PUC Press Office, 415.703.1366, news@cpuc.ca.gov

PUC ACTS TO STOP ILLEGAL LIMOUSINE
CARRIER STAR LIMOUSINE

SAN FRANCISCO, October 27, 2003 -- The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in its ongoing efforts to clamp down on illegal limousine companies, had telephone service shut off to Star Limousines based in Murrietta, CA. Gari Levelle Young and Angela Feinberg Young, co-owners of Star Limousine (also known as La Master Limousines) had been operating a limousine business after the expiration of their PUC permit.

Despite the warnings of PUC staff to stop all unlawful advertising and operations as a limousine company without the required permit, the carrier continues to operate and advertise. The Young's have placed advertisements for limousine services in the Temecula and Costa Mesa editions of the Verizon SuperPages.

On Oct. 6, 2003, the PUC's Consumer Protection and Safety Division (CPSD) obtained an order signed by Judge Roger A. Leubs, Superior Court, Riverside County directing Verizon California, Inc. to terminate telephone service to two Verizon landlines of Star Limousines. Although the two phone numbers were disconnected a week earlier for administrative reasons, Commission staff obtained the court order to ensure that these numbers would not be reinstated until the limousine company obtains a permit and complies with Commission's rules and regulations.

Under Public Utilities (Pub.Util.) Code section 5371, no one can engage in transportation services of passengers without first having obtained from the commission a PUC license. Commission Decision 91188 (Appendix B) dated January 8, 1980, authorizes the PUC to request a local phone company to cut off service to a carrier using the phone to operate illegally as a for-hire charter-party carrier.

For more information, please visit the PUC's website at www.cpuc.ca.gov.

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