IN THE NEWS
WHO’S TAKING YOU HOME TONIGHT? INNOVATIVE MANCHESTER PH FIRM SENDS DRIVER PHOTO
A Manchester taxi company is using mobile phones to improve customer security by sending photos of drivers to the handsets of clients. The company, in Cheetham Hill, has brought in the meas- ure to help protect customers from bogus drivers.
There were 93 cab- related sexual offences in London alone last year, with 120 the year before. The BBC Regional News Service reports that in Manchester, the city council has attempted to combat the problem by having licensing officers patrol the city centre on busy nights. And they regu- larly prosecute bogus taxi drivers.
Under new regula- tions, all Manchester PHVs have to be the same shade of silver so they are more easi- ly recognisable. One north Manchester taxi firm, 6 111 111, has gone a step fur- ther by providing customers with photos of their drivers and it seems to have had a beneficial impact. Nicola from Newton Heath used the compa- ny and, after being given the usual esti- mate as to how long her car would be, she also received a picture of driver Zack Chaudry standing next to his taxi. She has welcomed the addition to her service, especially considering some worrying previ- ous experiences. “On one occasion in
In London, the Metro- politan Police and Transport for London have used shock tac- tics to warn against bogus taxis.
This is the type of photo sent to a taxi customer’s phone to improve security
the past I told the driv- er where I lived, how far it was and he said that it was going to be a fiver,” she told BBC Asian Network.
“By the time I got there though, he had tried every line in the book and then locked the taxi so that me and three other girls could not get out and said,
‘Isn’t there anywhere else you’d like to go?’ “We just had to scream until he let us out and we ran. At least with this it feels a lot safer. You know who is coming and you know what you’re getting into, especially when you’re coming home late from a night out,” she added.
A television, radio and poster campaign has been designed to show the potential dangers of getting in an unlicensed taxi. Unlicensed cabs are “extremely danger- ous,” according to GMB taxi drivers’ union branch secre- tary, Terry Flanagan. “Every night in London there are hundreds out there - clearly they take work from the legitimate industry,” he added.
Kashef Ahmad runs the taxi firm in Man- chester and, apart from sending cus- tomers pictures of the
driver, his company also uses a system that lets clients track the position of their car online. “For us it is about pro- viding a level of service that is better than our competitors and for the customer a level of safety and awareness of who their driver will be,” Mr Ahmad said. “There are a lot of touts who are actually taxi drivers but who come through to Man- chester on the weekends because it is a busy conurbation.” He added: “We’ve had a very good response from ladies and parents to what we have done. “Ladies especially appreciate it because of the safety and know- ing which cab they are going to get into.”
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