Taxi chief installs CCTV into cab to cut down on assaults A TAXI chief said he was so fed up with drivers being assaulted that he decided to create a tailored CCTV system to help protect them.
Rossendale Taxi Association chairman Dave Lawrie said assaults on drivers were 'significantly' under reported because complainants were being told there was not enough evidence to secure a prosecution.
But Mr Lawrie said his system will not only provide that evidence, as it records both inside and outside the car, but it will also act as a deterrent.
It comes as figures obtained by the Lancashire Telegraph showed that assaults on both private hire and hackney cab drivers continue to increase in East Lancashire.
The statistics show that assaults with injury nearly doubled in the past year from 14 to 23, assaults without injury increased from 21 to 30 and racially-aggravated common assaults grew from five to nine. All those figures are up by around a third since 2012.
And Mr Lawrie, who has worked as a taxi driver for over 20 years, said the system would also prevent drivers against false criminal accusations.
Mr Lawrie, 46, said: "I decided to create the system because when I was attacked in 2010 I was told there was not enough evidence for the police to do anything about it.
"I decided to create something that would firstly act as a deterrent and secondly provide crucial evidence for the police and Crown Prosecution Service.
"For the sake of the drivers and the benefit of the drivers I'm hoping the CCTV system does take off."
The system consists of interior and exterior cameras, a four-screen monitor, microphones and a hard drive that holds recordings for six months.
The internal hard drive can only be accessed with a key. There is also an inbuilt GPS monitoring system and night vision to allow clear recording when it is dark.
Mr Lawrie, who lives in Newchurch Road in Stacksteads, said he is in negotiations with an insurance company who are interested in making the systems for their 5,000 clients.
He said they were drawn by the fact the exterior camera can prove who is responsible for road traffic collisions.
Mr Lawrie said he is keen to work with licensing departments in East Lancashire and revealed he is currently in discussion with Warrington Council, which has made it mandatory for its taxi licensees to have CCTV equipment in their vehicles.
Mr Lawrie's basic system retails at £500 with fitting, although there is a secure wi-fi upgrade version available which allowed was the user to access the footage remotely.
For more information call 07958590681, visit
http://lawriedriver.wix.com/in-car-cctv or email
lawriedriver@aol.com.
source:
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/ne ... _assaults/
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