Taxi Driver Online

Blackpool Gazette

August 14, 2006

HEADLINE: Life of terror behind the wheel

BLACKPOOL taxi drivers today claimed they are living in fear as they come under attack from drunks, yobs and thugs.

They say not a night goes by without at least one driver being attacked or abused and believe it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured - or worse.

One taxi boss is now calling for greater protection for drivers from the police - before one of them is killed. The call comes after a driver was attacked by baseball-bat wielding thugs after picking up a passenger in the Mereside area.

Dee Grant, a C Cabs director, said it is not the first time one of her drivers has been attacked on the estate. Last November, a taxi fell into a trap set by local youths. When the road was blocked by a number of bricks, the driver found himself under attack from youngsters lying in wait with rocks and stones.

Nigel Cudlip, a C Cabs driver, said: "I've done five years in the Army and two in Northern Ireland and I felt safer going down the Shankill Road on top of a jeep than I do driving a cab in Blackpool on a Friday and Saturday night." Fellow driver Tracey Bates, with 15-years' of taxi experience behind her, said: "It's getting worse.

"I've been punched three times, abused and had someone spit in my mouth. "We're the last line when people have had a belly full of beer but we are a target now for kids just because they are bored." Allan Forster, who has been driving for 13 years, said: "If we get out of the car every time a stone hits your window or bodywork, we're dead."

Now, after this latest incident in which a 42-year-old was set upon by at least four teens in Bowness Avenue, Mrs Grant is calling for police action. "It's not just us, it's every taxi firm in Blackpool that has to put up with this," she told The Gazette. Mrs Grant has lodged a formal complaint with the police over their response time to the latest incident.

The driver, who suffered a suspected fractured wrist and deep bruising to his back and arms before managing to get back in his car and escape, says police did not attend for more than three hours.

Police said they were investigating the incident.

ben.rossington@blackpoolgazette.co.uk
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