Taxi Driver Online

Leicester cabbies' concerns over mandatory child sexual exploitation awareness courses


Cabbies say they are concerned they are being asked to police their customers through plans to make them do a course on spotting the signs of child sexual exploitation.

About 70 of the Leicester's 1,900 licensed drivers have responded to a council consultation on the compulsory measure introduced in the wake of child abuse scandals elsewhere in the country.

An inquiry into widespread exploitation in Rotherham, between 1997 and 2013, found 1,400 youngsters were groomed by gangs of men and that taxi drivers played a "prominent role" in the abuse.

The council has emphasised there is no evidence of Leicester cabbies being involved in abuse but said the trade could play a vital role in tackling it in the future by being the "eyes and ears" of the authority.

Drivers who do not participate in the courses will have their licences suspended.

A number of drivers have welcomed the scheme but others have criticised the plans.

One driver told the council: "Are you treating drivers as potential abusers or social workers?

"My job as a taxi driver is to take people from A to B, not investigate their lives."

He said the plan was a PR stunt and the council ought to focus on making drivers safer from drunks and fare dodgers.

Another cabbie said: "Are we expected to police customers such as drug runners, dropping off prostitutes and elderly abuse and so on? Where do we draw the line?"

He and others suggested the compulsory fitting of CCTV cameras in all cabs but the council has said it is not considering this.

One driver said it would be unfair to suspend a licence if he or she could not attend a briefing .

The council said there would be 10 such courses every three months so people should be able to get to one.

Another driver said the courses – three hours with a break – should be kept short so people did not lose interest.

Many used the consultation to raise other points such as lobbying for private hire cars to be allowed to use bus lanes.

A council licensing committee will discuss the matter on Wednesday

The city council's head of regulatory services, Mike Broster, has previously said: "The courses will show them how to recognise the signs and how they can go about reporting them either to their managers, the police or our safeguarding people."

He stressed the aim was not to get drivers to inform on each other but to raise awareness of child sexual abuse.


Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Leice ... z3n3NXtz00

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

I mean spotting and stopping child abuse is such an onerous task for us all.

It's not as if the taxi/PH trade are in a good position to refuse.

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IDFIMH

Sussex do really think that sitting in a classroom for half a day listening to a lecture is going to stop people doing it. I think the money would be better spent on training police on how to deal with the issue properly.

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

Looks like Blackpool and the Fylde drivers are getting a course as well, although it appears ours is only a 30 minute one.

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/community/community-news/fylde-taxi-hopefuls-to-join-abuse-war-1-7490683

"My job as a taxi driver is to take people from A to B, not investigate their lives."

& that's it for me , in & out as fast as possible then off to work

That doesn't make you a taxi driver. That just makes you someone who drives taxis.

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Grandad,

Great, I'm sure after 30 minutes training they'll all be experts in child abuse.

Or rather 10 minutes to get everyone seated and accounted for, 10 minutes training and a ten minute test - what's the f***ing point ?

And if you don't do the test you'll be considered not 'Fit and Proper' to hold a licence, so does that mean that currently every taxi driver in Blackpool is not Fit and Proper

arguably many cabbies in Rotherham are already experts in CSE

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

and ?? i don't get what you are saying , if i wanted to be a support worker/ social worker etc i would have done the correct training & done that job instead, i drive a taxi & that's it, honestly mate are you serious? taxi driving is the [edited by admin] job ever, im not proud that i do it ffs

That is what makes you someone who drives taxis and not a taxi driver. It is people like you that give us such a bad name and the trade would be a better place without you.

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Grandad,

how? i drive a taxi ?? you honestly cant feel proud of what you do ? seriously ?? i do it out of necessity & hate every minute , how many 14 year olds would you ask at a school :

Q- "what do you want to be when you leave school ?"
A-"taxi driver"

sorry , its the worst job in the world

you sound like one of them pricks that used to come up to me in truck stops with keys jangling from there waist band & say " what ya pulling mate "
i used to say, "ya [edited by admin] teeth out if you don't [edited by admin] off you boring tit"
its your life isn't it ?

Who knows, but you maybe right.

However the trade has got to do something to improve what the general public think of us.

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IDFIMH

The job is what you make of it and clearly this is not the job for you so why don't you do something else like stacking shelves at Tesco or flipping burgers at McDonalds? You would even get a pay rise from today because the minimum wage has increased to £6.70

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Grandad,

how? i drive a taxi ?? you honestly cant feel proud of what you do ? seriously ?? i do it out of necessity & hate every minute , how many 14 year olds would you ask at a school :

Q- "what do you want to be when you leave school ?"
A-"taxi driver"

sorry , its the worst job in the world

you sound like one of them pricks that used to come up to me in truck stops with keys jangling from there waist band & say " what ya pulling mate "
i used to say, "ya [edited by admin] teeth out if you don't [edited by admin] off you boring tit"
its your life isn't it ?
The job is what you make of it and clearly this is not the job for you so why don't you do something else like stacking shelves at Tesco or flipping burgers at McDonalds? You would even get a pay rise from today because the minimum wage has increased to £6.70


You have to Eastern European to flip Burgers at mcDonalds although they will allow English speakers to serve at the front well round here anyway

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

don't even understand that tbh , typical " taxi driver, thick as [edited by admin] ", you just made my post relevant ffs, its a fall back on job mate, nothing else