Taxi Driver Online

Customers ‘using Dundee taxis to collect drugs’


City taxi drivers have been forced to blacklist customers over fears passengers are using the cabs to travel to drug deals.

Chris Elder, taxi drivers rep for the union Unite, said many Dundee taxi drivers are being asked on a daily basis to drive people to collect illegal substances.

Mr Elder said it was becoming “a daily occurrence” in Dundee and affected most of the city’s taxi drivers.

He added: “I have spoken to many drivers who have told me they have picked up fares and then discovered they are taking them to buy their drugs.

“However, there is a limit to what we can do. We can’t ask everyone we pick up why they are going to the address they have given us.”

Mr Elder said taxi drivers were keeping each other informed about who could be a potential problem.

He added: “Our taxi drivers are now warning each other about people they know are looking for lifts to collect their drugs.”

Mr Elder said there was the added problem that some of these people took a lift in a taxi and then refused to pay their fares, adding: “Many of my members have reported instances where people take a taxi to a drug pick-up point and then take off without paying.”

And there had been some cases where used needles had been left behind in taxis.

Mr Elder said: “I had one case myself where a discarded and used needle was left behind in my cab. Fortunately, I checked after I dropped the fare off before anyone else got into my taxi.”

One driver, who asked to remain anonymous, said driving clients to drug pick-up points happened regularly.

He added: “I can say 100% this is a daily occurrence for us. It has got to the stage where taxi drivers pass the word around each other about who to avoid.

“There are also addresses we are regularly asked to go to where we know people are buying drugs.”

He said it was easier for taxi drivers, who picked up fares in the city centre, to avoid certain clients.

But it was harder for drivers called to housing estates to verify where the passenger was going.

source: http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/news/ ... s-1.878776

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

One of our best customers was a dealer. Every night we'd run him around, wait at the end of alleyways for a few minutes and then on to the next 'drop'. Fare usually came to around £30, he always paid £40. Never gave us any trouble and everyone knew what he was up to - but for £40 for less than an hours work I wasn't going to knock him back. Another regular call was to pick up a parcel from one house and deliver it to another, they'd hand you the envelope and a tenner (fare was always less). One night I opened it out of curiosity, inside were two syringes and a packet of powder.

On a similar note how many of your punters get in stinking of cannabis ? When I started you might get a faint whiff once a week, now I'm getting at least one absolutely stinking of it every single night !