TERROR... ROCHDALE DRIVERS CLOSE TO WALKING OUT
Mohammed Razaq, boss of Streamline Taxis, says his drivers are close to walking out after a spate of assaults and rob- beries.
In one incident, a driv- er was left stranded after being robbed by four passengers who assaulted him, trashed his cab and took his car keys.
In another incident, a driver was surrounded by a group of more than 20 men, punched in the face and had his windscreen smashed. Also a man unsuc- cessfully tried to smash the window of a taxi which was parked outside the firm’s offices in Old- ham Road with a brick while staff stood just yards away. They managed to hold the
man until police arrived.
Now Mr Razaq is call- ing on the police and Rochdale Council to do more to protect drivers, following these attacks which he says his drivers are suffering on a daily basis.
He says there has also been an increase in the number of pas- sengers running off without paying, but as police regard this as a civil, rather than crimi- nal matter,
nothing
can be done to stop it. On one occasion, a driver dropped off a fare who said he was going to get cash from his house. When the passenger did not return, the driver went and knocked on the house door, but was threatened with vio-
lence and had to leave empty-handed. Mr Razaq told the Rochdale Observer: “It’s gone beyond the stage of wanting to go on strike now, it’s way past that. We just feel like we aren’t getting any help from anyone to do that.
“The council isn’t helping. What is the point of paying a £284 plate fee and £90 for a badge fee and other charges? We might as well not bother.” Peter Rowlinson, head of planning and regulation at Rochdale Council, said: “We offer advice and assistance to taxi drivers to help them with their business and hand out informa- tive leaflets with tips and advice for keep- ing safe.”
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A hackney cab driver was kicked and slashed across the face by robbers. He had pulled over to fix a fault on his door when he was attacked at the kerbside by
LIVERPOOL DRIVER’S FACE SLASHED three men.
The offenders took money from the vic- tim’s pockets and from inside the cab, before running away. Police issued an e-fit of a man they believe to
be involved in the inci- dent, which took place at 3am on June 7. He is described as being between 18 and 20 years old with blonde hair and a freckled complexion.
OXFORD CABBIE IN FEAR FOR HIS LIFE
A 44-year-old taxi driv- er from 001 Taxis who was robbed at knife- point on an Oxford estate feared that he was going to be killed in the attack.
He was called to pick up two men; one of the passengers got into the car, sat on the back seat and then grabbed the driver from behind. He then put a knife to the driver’s cheek. The second robber
then got into the car and sat on the front seat before taking the cabbie’s wallet, which contained £130 in cash.
The robbers
then got out of the car and ran off. The taxi driver, who asked not to be named, told the Oxford Mail: “When he put the knife on me, I thought it was the end of my life. “Taxi drivers accept that this thing could
happen to them - and if not to them some other driver. But we have no protection, no cameras in our cars. “The cameras wouldn’t make you feel safer, but at least you could catch the criminals so they can’t do it again. “I won’t stop working - I have one child and a second on the way. The people who did this have no place in the community of Oxford.”
Two taxi passengers leapt on a cab driver’s bonnet, kicked his doors and windows and broke his nose before stealing his money. Keith Harries, 51, was subjected to a horrific ten-minute ordeal by the men after refusing to hand over his night’s takings.
CARDIFF CABBIE’S HORRIFIC ORDEAL left.”
3.45am on a recent Saturday.
His ordeal began when he dropped the men off at Plymouth- wood Close in Ely, Cardiff. The two younger men left and the two attackers ripped the front door open and grabbed his keys and satellite nav- igation system.
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PAGE 86
The cabbie is one of at least two drivers badly beaten up in the last 12 months in Cardiff and it has led to increasing anger among drivers at what they say is a lack of protection from police and lack of support from the city council. South Wales Police said it was investigat- ing the attack on Mr Harries and has issued an appeal for information.
Mr Harries, who lives in Porthcawl, picked his two attackers up in Westgate Street along with two other younger men at
Mr Harries told the South Wales Echo: “I slammed the door shut but there isn’t a facility to lock it (with- out the keys).
“One jumped up and down on the bonnet and the other one kicked the rear quarter of the door and tried to kick the driver door window. They ripped the door open again and started to punch the hell out of me. They demanded cash. I refused and they smacked me again. “They told me that if I gave them my money, they’d give my keys back. After I did they
Mr Harries was treat- ed at the University Hospital of Wales for a suspected broken nose and swelling to much of his face. He was faced with abusive customers again early on Sun- day morning, July 12, after taking five peo- ple back to Caerphilly. One ripped the door off the side of his cab but he drove off before anything else happened.
Mathab Khan, the chairman of the city’s hackney carriage association, said such attacks were “commonplace” and accused the police of not doing enough to protect taxi drivers. He said: “The council is not doing enough to make people aware that taxi drivers are real people who are working for a living when there is no-one else there to take peo- ple home.”
PHTM AUGUST 2009
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