Simple precautions help keep cab passengers safe While incidents involving passengers being attacked as they get a lift home from who they believe to be taxi drivers are fortunately rare, they do still take place.
So far in our campaign for Cabbies and Passenger Safety (CaPS) we have looked at concerns facing cabbies in Bedford Borough following a number of violent attacks on them including one which resulted in the death of Mehar Dhariwal in January.
This week we’re looking at issues of safety for passengers and what can be done to ensure that even fewer incidents occur.
Earlier this year we reported that a 30- year-old woman had been sexually assaulted by a bogus taxi driver in the early hours of Christmas Eve.
The victim had been out celebrating but had become separated from her friends and two men who had given her a lift to Bedford Rail Station said they had called her a taxi.
Shortly afterwards a dark BMW 4x4 drove up to her and said he was the taxi she was expecting. He then offered to waive her fare for sex and when she refused he trapped her in the car and sexually assaulted her.
In November, a revolutionary service was launched in Bedford to help prevent this very thing happening. The Am I Safe scheme came from the initial idea of former Bedford School student Anthony Price-Thomson who saw the impact of an attack on a girl getting into an unlicensed taxi.
It works through a mobile phone application – the passenger can put in the registration number of the vehicle and it tells them if the car is licensed, the type licence and what type of vehicle it is.
It’s something that office worker Emma O’Keeffe, 19, who lives in Bedford, finds invaluable after a night out. She said: “Normally now when you book a cab you get a text message with the number plate, so all you do is copy the number and find out if it’s licensed or not.
“Luckily I haven’t had one that’s been unlicensed yet but if I did then I could just book another one. It’s made me feel safer.” The application also notifies two chosen people – in Emma’s case her friends – that she is in a vehicle, leaving a trace if anything were to happen. Mr Price- Thomson backed our campaign as a ‘fantastic initiative for drivers and passengers’.
He added: “Everyone has the right to feel safe when they are travelling in a licensed vehicle, whether they are a passenger or a driver and we fully support a zero tolerance policy on verbal and physical abuse.
“The fact that so many organisations in Bedford are taking driver and passenger safety seriously including our MP, Richard Fuller, is testament to the area.
“At Am I Safe we have received strong support not only from Mr Fuller, but the council, the university, police force and the media.
“Other local towns and cities could learn a lot from Bedford’s proactive, forward thinking approach to ensuring people live and work without fear of attack.” He believes the key issue is accountability adding: “It is not just about breaking the law, it’s about people’s lives being put in danger.
“It may be passengers abusing hardworking, honest drivers, or unlicensed, unscrupulous operators literally taking passengers for a ride. It must be stopped.
“That’s why Am I Safe exists and together with campaigns like CaPS we hope that we can make a real difference.” For more information on the scheme go to
www.amisafe.co.uk Get in touch with your views by emailing us
editor@lsnmedia.co.uk with the subject ‘CaPS’ or Tweet us @bedfordnews.
http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News ... 032012.htm
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