STAND AGAINST RACISM RACIST ABUSE OF PRIVATE HIRE AND HACKNEY DRIVERS SO
PHTM is well aware of this nationwide issue and sadly regularly reports attacks on our drivers including a vast number of racist attacks .... and it is clear these attacks are on the increase and get more violent.
We strongly support and encourage drivers to install CCTV, if allowed, and we are persistently calling for more support from Government, councils and the police to address this problem.
David Lawrie, Director of National Private Hire and Taxi Association told PHTM: “I have felt passionate about this issue for over 20 years and it is the very reason why I set up Safe systems UK (
www.safesystemscctv.co.uk); and the reason why the NPHTA is proud to be working with
https://tellmamauk.org/ to raise awareness of the problem and create an easy to access reporting network and also to work with the police and government to get this matter addressed.”
This specific report - called: ‘When No-one is Looking - the Racist Abuse of British Taxi Drivers’ - has been produced by academic and equality consultant Dr Karamat Iqbal. He said it was a video of a racist attack on Birmingham private hire driver, Abid Mustafa, that inspired his research.
Sadly Mr Mustafa, who won national praise for his dignified handling of a racist passenger, said he had been reduced to tears by some of the abuse he’s received and he has now had enough and is quitting the trade.
The Birmingham Mail reports that Dr Iqbal interviewed taxi and private hire drivers and conducted a questionnaire with 271 drivers across the country - 90% of them either black or Asian - as he tried to assess the level of abuse.
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I am not ashamed to say some of these incidents have made me cry. It is very difficult and emotionally affects me. It is the same for many taxi drivers.
What he found was alarming
• Asian and black taxi and PH drivers are racially abused “every day”, some punched, scratched and threatened - yet hardly anything is done to protect or support them.
• Incidents are occurring “by the thousand”, with a third of drivers saying they experience abuse at least once a week.
• Nearly one in ten say abuse is “daily”.
• Only a handful of cases are ever reported because, say drivers, it has become ‘normalised’ and they think very little action will result anyway.
Driver experiences
Incidents ranged from casual use of the N-word and the P-word, being told to “go back home/to your own country”, and, for Asian drivers in particular, being called a “terrorist”.
Incidents increased after Brexit, his inquiries found.
But the level of reporting was ‘tiny’ in comparison - with drivers deciding it was too time-consuming and the outcomes limited.
“There is little or no support from the licensing authorities for the drivers who experience such abuse,” says the report.
“They tend then to suffer in silence, treating it as a normal part of their job.”
One driver reported: “The abuse is not just words. Some passengers try to attack us, they damage our cars. They may not pay the fare.”
Another driver explained why they don’t report the abuse, telling Iqbal: “Sir, unfortunately we have to take all these things within ourselves. Just saying to ourselves: ‘it’s OK; it’s part of life.’ It’s a part of our profession.”
Comments from drivers in the report include:
Yaseen Aslam, President of the App Drivers and Couriers Union said:
”
“Many drivers think racism is part of the job. That’s not right. The older generation put up with racism. Abuse is common...when it happens, you decide it’s not worth pursuing it with the police because you know they’re not going to do anything.”
JULY 2021
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