A Manchester taxi firm uses mobiles as safety measure
A Manchester taxi company is using mobile phones to improve customer security by sending photos of drivers to the handsets of clients. The company, in Cheetham Hill, has brought in the measure to help protect customers from bogus drivers.
Unlicensed taxis or "touts" are a big problem across the country according to police and transport authorities. There were 93 cab-related sexual offences in London alone last year, with 120 the year before.
In Manchester, the city council has attempted to combat the problem by having licensing officers patrol the city centre on busy nights. And they regularly prosecute bogus taxi drivers. Under new regulations, all Manchester minicabs have to be the same shade of silver so they are more easily recognisable.
One north Manchester taxi firm, 6 111 111, has gone a step further by providing customers with photos of their drivers and it seems to have had a beneficial impact.
Nicola from Newton Heath used the company and, after being given the usual estimate as to how long her car would be, she also received a picture of driver Zack Chaudry stood next to his taxi. She has welcomed the addition to her service, especially considering some worrying previous experiences.
"On one occasion in the past I told the driver where I lived, how far it was and he said that it was going to be a fiver," "By the time I got there though, he had tried every line in the book and then locked the taxi. "It was really scary. He locked the taxi so that me and three other girls could not get out and said, 'Isn't there anywhere else you'd like to go?'.
"We just had to scream until he let us out and we ran. It's not good, some of the taxi drivers don't even have licences. They're just going round town picking girls up." "At least with this it feels a lot safer. You know who is coming and you know what you're getting into, especially when you're coming home late from a night out," she added.
In London, the Metropolitan Police and Transport for London have used shock tactics to warn against bogus taxis. A television, radio and poster campaign has been designed to show the potential dangers of getting in an unlicensed taxi.
Unlicensed cabs are "extremely dangerous," according to GMB taxi drivers' union branch secretary, Terry Flanagan. "They are not insured and have had no criminal record check. Every night in London there are hundreds out there - clearly they take work from the legitimate industry," he added.
A BBC investigation highlighted problems that can occur even with licensed drivers. The Inside Out programme in the West Midlands discovered criminals with convictions for offences such as indecent assault and drug dealing were being licensed to operate as taxi drivers.
Freedom of Information requests to councils and police authorities across the West Midlands region found that, during the previous three years, 209 people with previous convictions had been given a licence, despite criminal records checks.
In Wolverhampton, a man who between 1985 and 2005 had carried out more than 30 offences was, in 2006, deemed suitable to become a taxi driver.
Kashef Ahmad runs the taxi firm in Manchester and, apart from sending customers pictures of the driver, his company also uses a system that lets clients track the position of their car online.
"For us it is about providing a level of service that is better than our competitors and for the customer a level of safety and awareness of who their driver will be," Mr Ahmad said. "There are a lot of touts who are actually taxi drivers but who come through to Manchester on the weekends because it is a busy conurbation."
He added: "We've had a very good response from ladies and parents to what we have done. "Ladies especially appreciate it because of the safety and knowing which cab they are going to get into."
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