Taxi Driver Online

Bolton councillor reveals she was sexually assaulted by taxi driver

A BOLTON councillor has hit out at the suggestion minimum licencing standards should be removed from taxi operators in the borough – and revealed she was previously the victim of a sexual assault by a driver.

The local authority recently approved phase one in relation to safety checks on those who use the vehicles.

These include criminal record checks of private hire operators and staff, stringent requirements into booking records and a dress code.

Phase two of the minimum licencing, which is yet to be approved, relates to the age limit of vehicles in relation to the Clean Air Zone plans.

But at the recent full council meeting, some councillors and objectors suggested phase one should be rowed back.

Councillor Adele Warren, who represents the Breightmet ward, has hit back at the suggestion these regulations should be removed and bravely revealed she was sexually assaulted by a taxi driver when she was a student.

She said: “I was sexually assaulted when I was a university. I had been on a night out with my friends.

“I struggled to get a taxi, we went to a taxi rank, that was a thing then. My friend was going to a different location.

“I was going to a different side of town, this was in Bolton. This driver pointed me out in this line.

“‘He said I don’t like women being by themselves, I will give you a lift. It made me feel safe.

“I sat in the front of the taxi. When it came to dropping me off he wouldn’t let me out of the car.

“I tried to pay him, he made all sorts of comments. It was a sexual assault that took place. I threw money at him and exited the car. I was quite shaken up by it.

“I went to the police the following day.”

Cllr Warren said the matter was not taken further by police but she was supported by the licencing team at Bolton Council in making a statement.

She added is adamant that phase one regulations should stay in place: “System safety should be paramount.

“Taxi drivers are important - they carry people who are sometimes intoxicated and also those who are the most vulnerable.

“A lot of the time it is the only method of transport for people. The role of licencing committees is to ensure the public are safe."

She added that she fully understood concerns around phase two in relation to the age of vehicles.

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IDFIMH

I suspect the ethnicity of the councillors who don't want proper checks and balances is the same as the majority of the drivers

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

60 Councillors, 12 non british names so not a very large number really.

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Grandad,