Taxi Driver Online

Hastings taxis could get CCTV as racist abuse soars


Taxis are set to be fitted with cameras as standard with the boss of one leading firm describing racist abuse to drivers as "out of control".

Chris Vale, who manages 24/7 Taxis, spoke out after a customer who admitted racially abusing one of his drivers avoided prison.

The victim, 23-year-old Aras Cassidy, who is Kurdish, said foreign drivers are subjected to racist comments twice a day.

Brian Styles, 49, of Maple Heights, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harassment and failing to provide a specimen, and he was found guilty of taking a vehicle without consent. He was fined £900, banned from driving for a year and ordered to pay £300 costs.

Styles was arrested after driver Mr Cassidy went to collect him from The Rising Sun pub in Battle Road in October.

"I tried to be friendly and have a chat with him but he just started saying things like, 'Why don't you go back to your own country?'

"I ignored him but he kept swearing so I got out of the car. He jumped in the front seat and removed the handbrake.

"I was shocked but we get comments like that twice a day and you just learn to live with it. Most people we pick up are really nice but you get some who are aggressive.

"I sometimes ask myself: 'What am I doing in this country?' but all my best friends are English and I have been here for 12 years."
Mr Vale, 43, was stunned by the sentence.

"They should have put him inside. The racism from some people is getting out of control. I have lived all over the UK and grew up when the National Front were at large but I have never known anything like this."

Chief Inspector Mark Ling said: "We take a positive stance against hate crime of all types. Nobody should live or work with the fear and anxiety that this type of crime can cause. I would urge people who are victimised or abused in this way to report it. If nobody knows about the it then little can be done to stop it happening again."

Mr Vale's company has 70 cars, making it the biggest fleet in the town.

About one third of his drivers are foreign nationals and they all report the same kinds of problems.

"Since 2005 issues with racism and drugs and people doing runners have become much worse," said Mr Vale."I have people get in the car talking openly about buying drugs," added Mr Cassidy.

Now Mr Vale is supporting a council scheme, funded by the Safer Hastings Partnership and overseen by the licensing team, to put CCTV cameras into taxis across the town.

A council spokesman said: "It's likely to take place over several phases but we are confident that this is a positive move, increasing safety for both driver and passenger. Any abuse towards drivers, whether verbal or physical, is completely unacceptable and these cameras will go a long way in providing an extra element of protection."

But Reg Torab, 49, who runs New Carmiles sounded a note of caution.

"I do not think cameras should be compulsory," he said. "They do help when there are incidents but we keep very records of every job and there are issues about customers' privacy as well."

source: http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/

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

What is it these days that is causing so much racial hatred..racism is a nasty sore affecting the whole country..but until the Government addresses the root causes of racism or racist concerns it will only get worse and not better!

Come off it bloodnock, maybe it's more resentfullness than racism which boils over into racism when tempers flare?....
It comes from both sides of the coin when you get down to it..... Most of the drivers here are Asian or of Asian extract and often get abuse and the like.... I've had it and I've no doubt you've had it to, we all get it. It goes with the territory, sad as that is!!
Asians get bad press, it's in the news each day..... muslims this muslims that, it's the minority that make it bad for the rest ......No, they are not all like it. Some are friendly, less insular, sociable and are quite decent people, but even these chaps deplore the ones that are known for bringing the trade into disrespect (known as empi's)..... To me and to a lot of others it's a cancer brought on by central governments immigration policy, which has seen the saturation of the trade as a whole and as we see it now.... Ask yourself this: Why is the taxi trade so attractive to foreign/Asian drivers?
The indigenous populace see it as a threat of less jobs and the "Taking Over" of British jobs as a whole. The hard core element express it by violence and abuse.
Punters I get from across the social spectrum do complain to me about over charging, rudeness, unsociable attitude from Asian/foreign drivers. They can't all be "racists." Often quoted "I'm not racist, but......" What can I do? What can you do? Nothing..... The same as Government and its stupid saturation policy.....

F*** privacy, what about a driver with a knife in his throat?

Or customers making false allegations?

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IDFIMH

For the same reason it's so popular with white English I suppose.

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IDFIMH

Bearing in mind that we are now in the minority.....

Maybe the Asian lads are doing the job because the white English lads don't want to work poxy hours for poxy money.

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IDFIMH

I'm sorry towag, I disagree with you, a person doing this job, irrespective of colour deserves more respect than your post.

Your an experienced cab driver, so am I. Every weekend you, like me, will get a fare where there are two routes to the passengers destination......the fare in terms of cost is the same, irrespective of the route.......yet unless you ask a passenger which way they'd prefer to go....you know for a fact if you dont ask, the route you choose will be the wrong one.

Or has that never happened to you?

The chances are when this happens to you or me were accused of being robbing b*stards........people of a different skin colour are accused of being robbing **** b*stards.

CC

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

You do and I do, (well me less so now I've paid everthing off )
Looks as though we are (the minority), but then again many whiteys in low paid incomes, but it does get into the blood somehow.... or is it cause we are lazy B*****s at heart?

Colour of a person's skin is immaterial to me, so it's about social attitudes as to why Asians tend to be the targets? I'm not so sure it's about colour but more of cultural differences and temperaments..... I may be wrong, but I can only go by my own experience and gut feeling..... The way it comes across to me first hand.....

As for being accused of being a robbing barsteward, in the distant past often, but much more less so now..... Like you (with experience) I ask them there prefered route..... or better still avoid those who you think might or will cause problems, but it's not always avoidable 100 %.... People can be quite nice when approached to take, but can and do turn very quickly.... Experience counts, no doubt of that.....

This thread is about a licensed driver having to put up with white racist scum.

I suspect that scenario is mirrored a thousands times tonight.

I also expect tonight some punters are going to be taken the long way home, or overcharged.

However two wrongs don't equate to a right.

CCTV might not be the panacea to all our woes, but IMO it will help out with the racist abuse, and the overcharging/long way home issues.

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IDFIMH

I would agree with that wholeheartedly, but it's really all down to each and every driver taking the responsibility to protect themselves as is humanely possible by reducing the risk factor in the first place....

Who, other than you, has the best interests of you?

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IDFIMH

The people that supply my life insurance...and me wife that knows where the policy is

That about sums it up.....