Taxi Driver Online

Suffolk: Ride and run crimes are under-reported by taxi drivers


Hundreds of people have hired a taxi and made off without paying after being driven to their destination, figures have revealed.

Between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012, a total of 270 ‘ride and run’ incidents were reported in Suffolk, according to a Freedom of Information request.

And now taxi drivers are calling for a crackdown on the problem because they say the true figure will be much higher as many incidents are not reported.

John Lloyd, manager of Hawk Express Cabs based in Ipswich, said the issue has become an increasing problem.

“Sometimes the driver reports it to police and they are encouraged to do so,” he added.

“The police do their best. They take the passenger’s address and contact details and try to persuade them to pay with 24 hours and if not, it will be made a criminal offence.

“If it goes go to court, like we had one guy last year, it ends up far more expensive for them than just paying the taxi fee.”

Ipswich has the highest number of reported ride and run crimes with 134, followed by Lowestoft with 36 and Newmarket with 13.

Felixstowe had seven recorded incidents.

Mr Lloyd said: “People that ride and run should be named and shamed.

“Some of them deliberately try to make a feeble excuse like ‘you were late’ or ‘you didn’t drop us off where we wanted to go’.”

Of the crimes reported, 32 offenders were caught and action was taken against them and action is pending against one culprit.

But nearly 88% of the crime, 237 incidents, are unsolved.

A Suffolk police spokesman said: “This is understandably a frustrating crime for taxi drivers and we take all reports of ride-and-run seriously.

“We would always encourage drivers to report these incidents to police immediately so that we have a greater chance of tracing the offenders.

“Drivers can also assist police and reduce the risk of becoming a victim by obtaining as much information from customers as they can such as a fixed address and phone number.

“We would also advise that money is asked for up front and the driver updates their control centre of their whereabouts and destination if it changes during the journey.”

http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk_ride ... _1_2198521

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

From my experience there is little point in reporting them as nowt ever becomes of it...

What's more annoying is to go miles out of town to pick someone up and they're not there. That, in my opinion, is just as bad.

We now insist on having the payment up front by credit/debit card for such jobs. It saves going out for nothing.

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Grandad,

Something needs to be done.

The police helping a bit more would be good, drivers using their brains a bit more would be good, CCTV stills of runners published on a website would be good, or maybe all payment up front will be the one that succeeds.

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IDFIMH

Demand something done about it, walk into Tesco or Asda and walk out with a trolley full shopping and see how fast they lock you up.

Difficult when I'm in New Romeny, the fare might be in Folkestone and we can't afford a credit card reader. So we don't go there any more for return trips without advance payment.

How about asking for the payment to be made by direct bank transfer. That way it will be free. Most banks do faster payments now and the transfer is usually instant.

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Grandad,

We had one today all the warning signs were there number withheld pick up not at an address his mother was paying at the open end but driver still picked him up and yes he did a runner. Trouble is though driver recognised him as a kid we used to take to school a few years ago and he knew the drivers daughter so we know who he is but the police still won't do nothing about it Leicestershire police where the bloke ran up insisted on passing us to Lincolnshire who insist it is a civil matter and not covered by the theft act

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Make a complaint to the police.

Go to their website and fill in the little box that asks are you happy or sad?

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IDFIMH

The problem is that people believe that the police know all about the law! I have found that in many cases it is just them being up themselves - it is NOT a civil matter, they are passing the buck. As Sussex says..........make a complaint.

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

watch them squiny about that but time is here for it to happen if all know you must show payment before ride none will be offended they only get offended because they think it personal when it simply as i tell i dont know you so i dont take risk on you do you want to ride with me or you can try other car i wont be offended if you do

I know that it is a ball ache but you need to find the information on here regarding the theft act. I think it was posted by Man City Fan. I printed it and went to the police station with it. When told that it was a civil matter, I asked to speak to a senior officer. I kept reading the theft act page out loud and eventually along with my insistence to speak to a senior officer, it was agreed that it was a criminal act and they went round to the runners house and got the money.

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Grandad,

well it seems that doing runners on taxis isn't the only thing this toe rag was up to

http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/c ... -1-5177070

This was 3 days later seems like the maximum tolerance approach of the police really worked well he obviously decided as he could get away with anything

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector