BOGUS BOTHER
STOKE STOLEN TAXI WARNING
Police and licensing officials are warning Stoke revellers to be on their guard in case they fall victim to a bogus driver in a stolen taxi.
The warning follows the theft of a fully-
badged private hire vehicle last month. The black Skoda Superb Comfort TDi registration SB05 ZVW, belongs to Normacot- based firm Autocabs and could be mistaken for a genuine cab.
A Staffordshire Police spokesman told the Stoke on Trent Sen- tinel: “The vehicle had stickers on both doors with the word ‘Auto- cabs’, and the licence badge number is PH824.”
POLICE HUNT GLASGOW SEX ATTACKER
A bogus cabbie was being hunted by police after a woman was indecently assaulted. The incident happened after the woman got into a blue saloon car in Glasgow at 2am on a recent Thursday, thinking it was the PHV she had phoned for. She was picked up in
Renfield Street, near to the Bistro Kebab Shop. The driver then took her to an area in the East End of the city where she was inde- cently assaulted. Police issued a description of the attacker who was Asian, in his 30s and had a moustache.
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They say it is possible the driver may have approached other women in the city cen- tre.
DC Graham McCread- ie told the Glasgow Evening Times: “This has been a very fright- ening ordeal for this woman. It’s imperative we trace this man.”
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ILLEGAL DRIVERS CHEAT LEGIT CABBIES
In times of escalating job losses, more and more people are turn- ing to illegal taxi driving as a means of paying the bills. A document supplied to Belfast newspaper, Andersonstown News, giving detailed infor- mation on the number and identity of illegal drivers suggest the problem is getting out of control.
If you have a car and good knowledge of the roads it can be a quick way to make money. This is particularly true of the busy weekend period when revellers are looking to get home but can sometimes struggle to find an avail- able legal taxi. This then provides easy pickings for the illegal driver. As convenient a solu- tion illegal taxis can be for someone looking to get home on a Satur- day night, for legal private hire drivers it’s a growing problem they say is costing them money and is
unfair on legitimate drivers and respec- table depots who play by the rules at consid- erable expense.
One taxi driver told the Andersonstown News that it costs him over £5,000 a year to run his taxi to the set legal requirements. Howev- er, the driver said it was the maintenance of the car that cost him most. The driver added that not only were ‘bandit’ drivers shirking the cost for operating a taxi legally, they were also undercutting agreed private hire base rate fares.
“I can also see in some city centre pubs that door staff allow illegal taxi drivers to park out- side the premises and pick up fares. This is taking away business from us when we need it most, it makes it real- ly tough for us.” Another private hire driver said he too pays over £5,000 a year to run his taxi legally. Although he did not
condone running a taxi illegally, the driver said he did understand why people turned to it in hard economic times. “If you’re laid off and have a car, it’s an easy thing to fall into,” he said.
“I started out illegally myself, a lot of legal drivers do, but I can certainly see that there’s far more illegal drivers now than there ever was before.” Mmmm… This is the first time we’ve seen a report about bogus drivers from Northern Ireland - which goes to prove that it’s going on all over the place. One wonders if enforce- ment is easier, or more difficult, because taxis and PHVs are overseen not by their local authorities but by the Department of the Envi- ronment. As readers can see from this page, we’ve also got bogus drivers in Scotland, and of course England and Wales. Vigilance rules OK, everywhere – Ed.
PHTM OCTOBER 2010
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