Taxi Driver Online

Rape of teenager in Windsor on night out could lead to change in how Private Hire vehicles are identified



THE rape of a teenager who got into a car she was told was a 'taxi’ could prompt changes to how private hire vehicles are identified.

The Royal Borough is to consult with the taxi trade about enforcing placing stickers on the side doors of Private Hire vehicles displaying their licence number and the council’s logo as a mark of authenticity.

Currently, Private Hire vehicles only display identification on the exterior of their vehicles on the rear of their cars.

The council concedes the move is 'partly’ down to an incident in Windsor in May last year when a 19-year-old girl was raped after getting into a car she was told by her assailant Anshul Sharma was a taxi as she left Liquid nightclub in Victoria Street.

She was attacked in the car after it was driven to a parked petrol station.

Sharma, then of Hencroft Street, Slough, was jailed for five years in October last year.

The decision to launch the consultation was taken at a meeting of the council’s Licensing Panel on Tuesday.

The stickers are anticipated to cost as little as £4.48 each if the move is agreed – a total cost of between £7-9,000 for the 952 Private Hire vehicles currently operating in the borough– which either the drivers themselves or the council would foot.

Speaking at the meeting, councillor Phill Bicknell said: “If you are telling me it is £7,000 to stop a rape, then we should [pay for it]. It is about safety. I am not in favour of shoving the price on to the drivers.

“From a safety point of view, it is important people know they are getting in to a vehicle they know is safe.”

Figures obtained by the Observer under the Freedom of Information Act show in the financial year 2012/13, almost half of the assaults in taxis recorded by Thames Valley Police in Berkshire happened in Windsor and Maidenhead – seven out of 15.

Seven of the 15 incidents in Berkshire involved sexual assault on a female over the age of 15 – two of which were known to have taken place in Windsor by taxi drivers on passengers.

Of neighbouring authorities, only South Bucks District Council currently require Private Hire vehicles to have door signs.

Hackney Carriage vehicles - also known as hail and ride - are already identifiable with the council's logo and distinctive purple and white colour scheme meaning they would not be subject to any changes in the consultation.

- See more at: http://www.windsorobserver.co.uk/news/r ... jDU6u.dpuf

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

presumably those are different to the pesky unparked ones?

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

Shame it took the rape of a young girl to see that the anti signage brigade are yet again wrong.

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IDFIMH

Why?..any Deternined deviant could have such signs made or stolen and then put on their vehicle as and when needed, it would make their pray even easier to catch because they would think they were definitely boarding a real PH whilst removing any sense of doubt they may otherwise have had.

It would make little or no difference in protecting the Half Cut wee hours traveller.

Because 100s of taxi/PH drivers would notice it.

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IDFIMH

Hardly....could be any other PH picking up.

At least the driver and vehicle would have been checked.

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IDFIMH

Paint them Yellow

The drivers ?