TERROR TIMES
PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLE MANGLED AS YOBS PELT CARS WITH STONES IN SOLIHULL
A private hire vehicle was left mangled after yobs threw stones at passing cars on Kingshurst Road in Solihull - forcing its driver to swerve into a stationary vehicle. Kingshurst councillor Marcus Brain, who rushed to the scene to help, said the incident happened following a report that youths were pelting oncoming cars on the Solihull estate. Cllr Brain said despite being “very shaken up”, neither the driver or passenger were seriously injured. West Midlands Police said it was
investigating the incident, which happened on Fordbridge Road shortly after 8pm on Monday October 17. Cllr Brain said: “A group of kids were at the side of the road throwing stones at cars going past. It looks like they hit the windscreen of the taxi. The taxi then veered and hit a van parked on the side of the road.” He added: “If there was someone in his passenger seat they would have been really badly injured. The car was absolutely mashed up.”
VOKES TAXIS TO SHUT RAINHAM OFFICE IN THE EVENINGS AFTER OPERATORS VERBALLY ABUSED
Vokes Taxis has had to shut its Rainham office, in Station Road, at 6pm every day due to people becoming “angry and threatening” towards its operators
amid an
ongoing driver shortage.. The firm provides taxis across Medway 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the Rainham office was previously open until midnight every day but now has to be closed six hours earlier for staff protection. Co-owner Mark Robinson told KentOnline: “I’m afraid that over the last few months our operators received really vulgar abuse on a daily or weekly basis. It’s a very small minority of people that let their frustrations get the better of them if they can’t get a taxi when they want, but it is quite upsetting when you’re on the receiving end. “It started with a small gang of lads becoming aggressive to the operator one evening and a trend
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developed. So a little less than a year ago we decided to start closing the office at 6.00pm for the protection of our staff.” At first, the firm had only closed the office on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, but eventually was forced to do so every day. Mark said the company is reviewing the situation and would like to be able to reopen soon but “can’t do so if it means making the operators vulnerable”. And Mark cites two key reasons for the onslaught of abuse – a shortage in licensed drivers and the roadworks in Medway causing traffic gridlock. He said: “We need more taxi drivers, we’ve had to turn away so many calls because of the driver shortage. This obviously makes the customers feel frustrated. “It’s become so easy to criticise the company either online or over the
phone that it’s almost become normal but it seems a small step to this becoming more serious when customers are in the building. “It’s just been verbal so far but we’ve closed the office because the last thing we want to do is put our employees at risk.” Mark said that a “huge imbalance” in the supply and demand for taxis is an ongoing problem.” While the driver shortage is a national problem, the roadworks in Medway are making things worse. He said: “There seems to be roadworks everywhere, meaning our drivers spend most of their time stuck in traffic. People get frustrated when we can’t send a taxi because roads are gridlocked. “There are also new apartment blocks being built, so there are more people living in Medway than before, so we have more demand but less drivers to cover it.”
NOVEMBER 2022 PHTM
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