Fares up front and cameras to drive down taxi crime in Bolton?PEOPLE will have to pay up front for taxi journeys in Bolton under new plans being considered to combat the number of attacks on drivers.
Council, police and trade bosses are also a step closer to seeing CCTV cameras installed in every black cab and private hire vehicle in the town.
The authorities and taxi representatives are in negotiations about the best way to tackle the problem of crimes committed against taxi drivers, many of which are thought to go unreported.
One of the options being proposed is to install CCTV cameras and recording equipment in every taxi.
A pilot scheme is currently being tested in which six Bolton taxis are fitted with hi-tech surveillance equipment, but at £1,000 per taxi, the council and drivers fear it is too expensive to use on a large scale.
It is now hoped that a cheaper alternative can be found, which would allow the council to buy a large number in bulk and sell them to drivers at a discounted rate.
Compulsory pre-payment of fares is also being discussed as an option to prevent arguments about money.
Cllr Jim Lord, chairman of Bolton Council’s licensing committee, said: “We’ve found a possible solution that costs about £70 to £80 — it’s pretty decent and if we could have these installed, that would cut violence against drivers a lot.
“The two together, pre-payment and CCTV, I think that would be a large step forward.”
About six “hate crimes” are reported every week in Bolton, a large proportion of which are against taxi drivers, but only about a quarter result in prosecutions.
Police believe many more go unreported because drivers do not want to spend time talking to police when they could be working.
Taxi driver Gulistan Khan, from Great Lever, last week called for cameras to be installed in taxis after he was punched in the face and thrown out of his cab by a robber who drove off in his car. Sgt Rob Knight, who is in charge of the police’s partnership work with the council, said: “The taxi trade is very strong in Bolton and we are concerned about making them as safe as possible.
“As we would for any profession, we are looking at how we can assist in partnership to make them safer, and one of the options is CCTV.”
source:
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/
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