Taxi Driver Online

TLDR: I have sympathy for anyone that is a victim of these scumbags but if you put yourself in harms way and something happens then you knew the risks

Maybe if PH didn't pick up off the street then the public wouldn't think it was OK. Most are dumb and would jump into anything that looked like PH.
All you have to do is look at Glasgow Central Station on a Friday/Saturday night and you'll see numerous privates sitting directly opposite the taxi rank hoping to poach a hire. Same goes for most of the city centre ranks eg Renfield St, Byres Rd, Garage Sauchiehall St,
Go on tell me it doesn't happen and they're sitting waiting for a prebooked job cos if you do I don't believe you.

Posted on March 21, 2012




Well theres no prizes for guessing todays topic on the blog,

It seems to be that the age old subject of piracy is rearing its head again as of late. And looking at the minutes for the last few meetings of the licencing committee, the Evening Times and any Taxi Driver sites it seems that piracy in Glasgow is rife. It really does make you angry though when you read stories of drivers charging someone £20 for a hire of 1000yards, and stories of people regularly being charged £40-50 to go from the city centre to Cambuslang and £35 to Easterhouse. What I’ve never understood about people that are pirating is why you would spend an hour sitting round the town waiting on a £30-£40 hire when you could make £20-£30 an hour when it’s busy and not run the risk of forfeiting your livelihood. Is that extra few pounds really worth the risk? especially when you consider not only are drivers risking their own safety but if caught would face losing their drivers badge.

And losing your badge would be the least of your worries it seems from reading the reports on offer in the various local newspapers as well as the Licensing committees own minutes. It seems as soon as your caught with a fare in your car that isn’t pre booked it’s an automatic charge of driving without sufficient insurance added to the list as well. The problem is that in this drivers eyes the penalties are not severe enough. Every weekend you still see Privates lurking round the so called “shadow ranks” in the town looking for an easy hire for big money. I only wish the penalties were as severe up here as they are for our English counterparts caught flouting the law. Just yesterday a Watford Private Hire Driver was found guilty of piracy; His punishment after picking up two undercover police officers was to initially have his vehicle seized at the scene due to having insufficient insurance and a fixed penalty of 6 points and a £200 fine imposed. The driver was then taken to court and fined £1000 for plying for hire. Now as well as his fine he was ordered to pay £1000 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge. So all in his easy pickings cost him his car and £2215. I only wish our councils and court system would follow a similar line and perhaps we could deter our own from flying the Jolly Roger.

I know that our radio bases and GCC are making serious efforts to try and stop this but I fear that they are not going far enough. I for one would love to see door flashes introduced proclaiming that the vehicle to which they are attached is uninsured unless the hire is pre booked. Ideally if the public were to realise the dangers they are putting on themselves they would be more inclined to either flag down a Hackney or wait on a proper pre booked Private Hire. I dare say though that if those drivers currently plying for hire were dissuaded from doing so the wait for a private during busy times would drop dramatically making life easier for Customer, Company and Driver.

But it’s not just rogue Private Hire Drivers the public should be wary of, there is a small minority of unlicensed and unregistered drivers out there who are plying for hire in their own personal cars. Many would argue what harm are they doing, their only trying to make a few extra quid. Firstly unlike a plated vehicle you have no idea as to the vehicles condition and secondly you have no idea of the background of the people driving these cars.

In conclusion I can only say whilst the council are doing a good job of clamping down and punishing those flouting the laws I still feel much more could be done, in terms of Punishment and Education for both drivers and the public These drivers are the blight of our trade, they make all of us look unprofessional and cast aspersions on the name of the many good Private Hire Drivers working in Glasgow.



Admin

The Private Hire Drivers Association

It seems to me that you are assuming that everybody has the same knowledge of the trade that you do. Tbh I find it quite astounding that you can simply say, at the end of a long comment, 'you knew the risks'. Lets turn this on it's head shall we, as a driver I know I'm at risk of attack, would it be my own stupid fault should I be attacked because I knew the risks? Clearly your level of empathy is limited

To say a ph is uninsured if not pre-booked is bollox. It is still insured for road risks. There's nothing in my policy that says if i pick up off the street the insurance is invalid.

I quite rightly believe a woman should be free to wear what she likes without any consequences. but if people put themselves into dangerous situations with strangers then they are increasing their risks and if you take risks that could and should have been avoided then it is their own damned fault to a small degree

Obviously the guy that raped her is scum and shooting is too good for him but the whole ordeal could and should have been avoided in the first place.

Yes I have a daughter (and sons for that matter its not just females that are at risk)and a wife and neither would be stupid enough to get into some randoms motor,

as I said previously they really should be clamping down on this more than they are. whilst i'm sure there are people out there who tout that are harmless its a hunting ground for rapists perverts and conmen. hopefully with the exposure of cases like this people will realize that these touts are an unsafe choice and not worth the risk Councils Radio circuits the media have an obligation to drive these people away from our trade. personally i'd like to see anyone posing as a taxi/PH driver charged with all sorts but the courts and ultimately the law itself doesn't deal with them effectively. as I said previously make it an offence to use an unlicensed taxi or PH and Johnny public will soon stop putting themselves at risk

i'd much rather see people getting fined and thusly put off using an illegal service rather than the alternatives. maybe theres something in place already aiding and abetting or similar that could be used to dissuade people but if not there should be. its not a perfect solution, I wouldn't even say its a good one but anything that keeps people in a "safer" environment especially when they are in a vulnerable state (read sloshed) then in my book its a winner.

the other question Is though what should we be doing to make the genuine licensed taxis and PH vehicles safer for the public? cctv in every vehicle? panic buttons ? I don't know but that's for another thread I think



TLDR: I have sympathy for anyone that is a victim of these scumbags but if you put yourself in harms way and something happens then you knew the risks.

I have to agree, people do have to take some responsibility for their own safety.

TBH, if the chances of being murdered, raped, assaulted or robbed doesn't put people off getting into a car with a total stranger, I don't see the remote possibility of a fine from the courts making much difference.

Don't get me wrong I do think people should take some responsibility for their safety and I'm sure it haunts her everyday that she made a silly mistake by not checking the guys credentials, but, to say "its her own damned fault" is a little more than suggesting a silly mistake. The only person to blame for this incident is the rapist end of. As I said earlier would it be my fault if I'm attacked doing my job because I know the risks?

Don't get me wrong I do think people should take some responsibility for their safety and I'm sure it haunts her everyday that she made a silly mistake by not checking the guys credentials, but, to say "its her own damned fault" is a little more than suggesting a silly mistake. The only person to blame for this incident is the rapist end of. As I said earlier would it be my fault if I'm attacked doing my job because I know the risks?

I suppose it's a point of view thing. I consider getting into some random stranger's car as more than just a silly mistake.

Don't get me wrong I do think people should take some responsibility for their safety and I'm sure it haunts her everyday that she made a silly mistake by not checking the guys credentials, but, to say "its her own damned fault" is a little more than suggesting a silly mistake. The only person to blame for this incident is the rapist end of. As I said earlier would it be my fault if I'm attacked doing my job because I know the risks?

The night I was raped by a minicab driver


A woman who was raped by a bogus minicab driver has told for the first time of her horrific ordeal.

The publishing assistant from east London has chosen to tell her story, saying: "It is difficult to go through it all again but I have no choice. I have got to tell people to stop it happening to other women.

She added: "I thought minicabs were safe, I thought I was strong and I thought it wouldn't happen to me - but it did. Rebecca, 31, was raped by Mohammed Akhtar, an Afghan who posed as a minicab driver to lure women outside bars and nightclubs. He picked her up in the West End and drove her to a cemetery near his home in Hendon. There he attacked her after pretending his car had run out of petrol.

Seven weeks previously Akhtar, 28, who was granted asylum in 1999, picked up a Norwegian university student outside a bar in central London and drove her to Kensington, where he raped her in a side street.

The 21-year-old is too scarred by her attack to return to Britain, while Rebecca still has nightmares from which she wakes screaming, suffers loss of vision and has crying fits.

The night that changed Rebecca's life began so promisingly. Recently having moved to London from Guildford, she had just begun an exciting new job in publishing and she had arranged to meet two girlfriends at a pub.

She said: "I was in a really good mood. I met the girls at about 9pm and we drank a couple of beers before moving on to the Metro nightclub. It was about 3am when we left. Then she waited for a bus on Tottenham Court Road. Rebecca said: "After an hour a bus arrived but the driver told me I was on the wrong side of the road. I crossed the road and went into a newsagent. As I was leaving a man came up to me and asked if I wanted a minicab. I was tired, so I said, 'Yes.'

Rebecca followed him to his car. "I didn't really know where I was, but he seemed to know where he was going. It was only an hour or so later that I realised we were nowhere near my flat.

In fact Rebecca was in Hendon. She thought he was taking her on a longer route to increase the fare and rang 999 in a bid to frighten him. Akhtar pulled the car to the side of the road and agreed when the operator asked to speak to him, telling her he was taking Rebecca home.

She said: "He didn't look annoyed at me for ringing 999. But 10 minutes after driving off he told me he had run out of petrol. By now it was 5am and I was tired and really [edited by admin] off. He told me to get out but I shouted at him to call me another taxi.

"He refused and pointed up the road and said the Tube was just over there.He marched off and I had no option but to follow.

In silence, Rebecca followed him across Sunny Hill Park and into a lane. She said: "Suddenly he grabbed my shoulders, pushing me backwards. It was as if he had snapped. I shouted, 'Get off me,' and tried to knee him in the balls but he held me back.

"I started crying and he said, 'Shut up or I'll kill you.' I believed him. He pulled my boots off, pulled my jeans down and raped me. I was terrified and just kept saying,'I want my mum.'

"The actual rape lasted maybe only a minute or two. He then said 'Now you can go and get your Tube.'Then he walked off.

As Rebecca pulled on her clothes she dialled 999 and sobbed: "I've been raped. After speaking to the police she was given a medical examination and an HIV test, for which she is still awaiting the results.

Akhtar was picked up two weeks later after he was identified on the newsagent's CCTV. He has been jailed for nine years after pleading guilty to both attacks at the Old Bailey. Judge Christopher Moss told him: "These were brutal and wicked offences and it appears your victims have been greatly affected.

"You used your illegal trade as an unlicensed minicab driver to obtain your victims. Attacks such as these on vulnerable and defenceless women will always attract a substantial sentence. Rebecca is relieved he is behind bars but wishes he had got life. "I hate him,'' she said.

She is determined to get on with her life but is still traumatised. "When men I don't know talk to me I go quiet and want them to leave me alone. But inside I am screaming.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z2Kh6UtRe6

As I was leaving a man came up to me and asked if I wanted a minicab. I was tired, so I said, 'Yes.'



Why is the headline for this article "The night I was raped by a minicab driver"?

She was not was she?

If the man who raped her was dressed as a Judge, would the headline have been "The night I was raped by a Judge"

And I do not seek to trivialise the awful crime. The rapist was not a minicab driver.

You could call it a stupid mistake, a very serious mistake or the kind of thing only a deadhead would do, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference it still doesn't make it right to put the onus of the behavior of a rapist onto the victim by saying it's "its her own damned fault" any more than it would be my fault if I was attacked whilst working and I know the risks. Some people are stupidly trusting and just don't think, it doesn't make things their fault.

if I was attacked whilst working and I know the risks