Removing Grilles Puts Lives At Risk Say Coventry Taxi Drivers
8th September 2008
Taxi drivers in Coventry fear for their lives because red tape is forcing them to remove safety grilles from their cars.
Cabbies say they will be left exposed to a nightly barrage of violence and threats without the metal safety barriers.
Some drivers who have already been victims of crime are refusing to work after dark and others are not prepared to remove the modification which Coventry City Council says is illegal without permission from its planning department.
Bhajen Nagra, aged 57, from Foleshill, is one of the first drivers to have his grille removed after he was stopped by a council reinforcement officer.
He said: "I am not happy at all and don't want to go out at night to work because I don't feel safe, but I have a family to support and bills to pay.
"Just last Saturday I had an incident when I was asked to take a man to Nuneaton.
"On the way he became violent and I tried to stop but he put his hand through the grille and tried to grab my neck. Luckily the grille stopped him, but this is the kind of thing we are going to be exposed to now. It is frightening and I don't understand why we have to remove them."
Self-employed Hackney carriage driver Ken Roberts has been attacked on a number of occasions and says the safety grille saved his life when he was targeted by a man with a knife.
The 64-year-old father-of-three from Eastern Green, said: "The council wants us to remove our cages because they say it is against health and safety - if a cab is involved in an accident they are worried about passengers getting hurt - but what about the safety of the drivers? We are really angry about this.
"This ridiculous measure will put lives at risk. If I hadn't had the grilles in my cab I wouldn't be here to tell the story."
A spokesman for the city council, said: "We are not saying that vehicles can't have the grilles. We have to ensure that they are fitted correctly at the manufacturing stage.
"We are investigating with LTI the manufacturer, which taxis have been fitted with the grille at the manufacturing stage, and any taxis that have had this modification afterwards will have to remove the grille."
Source; Coventry Telegraph
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