CAMERAS could be placed in the cars of cab drivers in York who fear for their safety.
City of York Council is to bid for funding from Safer York Partnership to buy a “bank” of the tiny devices, which cost about £400 each and will provide female drivers with extra protection against threatening passengers. The move follows a six-month trial where one of the cameras, which are small enough to fit into a car’s cigarette lighter, was fitted in a cab.
Women drivers will get priority.
If cash is provided, it would mean drivers no longer having to pay for the added safety measure out of their own pockets.
John Lacy, the council’s licensing manager, said: “A number of months ago, there were several incidents in York and, as a result, we approached the Safer York Partnership to trial a camera in a cab.
“The cab drivers are very concerned about their personal safety in vehicles as a number of assaults have occurred in their cars.”
Mr Lacy said the trial had been an “extremely good” way of tracking aggressive behaviour and harassment in cabs, which had led to the application for funding to roll the cameras out further among the city’s fleet of cabs.
Two years ago, the council gave its approval for fixed cameras to be placed in taxis and private hire vehicles as long as they met a number of rules, such as letting passengers know they were being filmed, and passed safety regulations. The guidelines also stipulated the footage from the cameras could only be downloaded by council or police officers.
“The cab drivers already have approval to install cameras in their cars, but unfortunately because of lack of funding they have to be funded by themselves,” said Mr Lacy.
York taxi driver Graham Phillips said: “There are a lot of woman cab drivers out at night, especially in the private hire trade, who feel vulnerable.
“Imagine a day such as after the York Races when a man or a group of men want to be taken somewhere miles away such as Hull. Female drivers feel tentative about taking a fare such as this on.
“It is a great concern to the trade and is worrying to both sexes, but especially women, because they have the double jeopardy fear of being both attacked and assaulted sexually. The council should be looking at funding cameras for all taxi drivers.”
Earlier this month, The Press reported how one taxi driver was robbed by passengers who asked him to take them from the city centre to a village near York.
In March, The Press revealed how a taxi driver was punched by passengers while driving through York, less than a week after one of his colleagues was robbed at knifepoint.
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/8360683.York_taxi_drivers_call_for_cameras_as_protection_against_violent_passengers/
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