Taxi Driver Online

Nottingham Evening Post

January 1, 2008 Tuesday

Cab rules to help women feel safe

Student Sarah Coates was on a fun night out with friends and had no inkling that the journey home would leave her shocked and scared.

She had been with a group at The Works nightclub in the Cornerhouse in 2004 and when it was time to go home, Sarah got into a hackney cab at a nearby rank.

The driver shouted racist insults and refused to let her out of the taxi.

He accused her of being a "tart" and made sexist remarks about her clothes.

After escaping from the taxi by phoning her boyfriend to help as it pulled up outside her hall of residence, Sarah called police.

An investigation revealed that four other students had been through a similar experience at the hands of the same man.

He pleaded guilty to racially-aggravated aggressive behaviour and had his taxi licence revoked by Nottingham City Council.

Sarah, now 23, wants taxi licensing regulations reviewed to prevent others going through what she experienced.

Her campaign, called Hail Rape, has received support from national charities Rape Crisis and The Truth About Rape.

"It took all the strength I had to take that man to court," she said. "The only thing that pushed me to carry on was that once it was over, he would never be able to frighten another passenger again," Sarah said.

"I feared that next time it could be my sister, mother or friend and they may not be quite as lucky." Sarah launched Hail Rape as part of a project in her final year at Nottingham Trent. The campaign aims to make three changes to taxi regulations.

The first is for no licence to be issued to anyone with a criminal background including offences of aggression against others, including assault, rape or sexual assault. Current rules mean drivers convicted of those offences can have a licence after seven years with no further convictions.

Sarah, who now lives in Sheffield, also wants to see compulsory tests and courses on women's safety introduced for taxi drivers in addition to the local roads test, interview and criminal background check.

Taxi companies should be legally obligated to report complaints about aggressive behaviour to authorities, Sarah says.

The city council's Caraline Ryan said: "All taxi drivers have to show they are 'fit and proper persons' when applying for a licence. Each licence application must be dealt on merit but the safety of the public is our overriding consideration and we can and do refuse licences.

"We would not normally consider an application if there had been a conviction for serious violence or indecency within the previous ten years.

"We have contacted Sarah to offer our help with any information she requires."

kate.skelton@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk
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Leicester Mercury

December 29, 2007 Saturday

Letters

Private-hire slur

In your article "Taxi drivers warn revellers of private-hire risk" (December 20), Harbhajan Pamma suggests young women could risk being attacked if they use private-hire cabs instead of hackneys.

This is an unfounded slur on private-hire drivers.

In almost every instance where women have been molested or propositioned in taxis in this city, it has happened in a hackney cab.

Harbhajan Pamma would be better off getting his own house in order, instead of criticising private-hire drivers who carry far more customers than hackney cabs.

A few days ago, we read that half of the hackneys tested by the council failed and were taken off the road - some permanently.

If private-hire cars stopped operating, the city would grind to a halt.

It is about time that the archaic private hire/hackney system of licensing was abolished and replaced by a simpler, unified licence.

Don Tallis, Wigston.
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Now that defo has some merit.

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IDFIMH

See that chap is falling into the same trap that he has just had a pop at.

It's dirty scumbag slags that commit the offences, and sometimes they happen to be licensed taxi drivers, and sometimes they happen to be licensed PH drivers, but always they are dirty scumbags slags.

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IDFIMH

This lady Sara Coats is a publicity seeking tramp who recently tried to start trouble here in Sheffield with he campaign. She claimed to want to make taxis safer from taxi drivers who she suggested were all potential rapists. She started a thread in the Sheffield forum website and got challenged by local cabbies and others including a councillor who just happens to be a member of taxi licensing board. The lady didn't have any answers but just accusations. For a taste of what happened here is a link to one thread she started http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthr ... t=hailrape

I read up about her to discover she had started this campaign as part of her degree into media studdies, nothing but an opportunist cow. She claims to have suffered the initial abuse in Nottingham in 2004 and yet she decided on her campaign near end of November 2007 and that in Sheffield and not Nottingham. She wanted rule changes and yet failed to contact the taxi licensing. This newspaper article seems to be by a lazy reporter deciding on a juicy story that he just coppied out of the Sheffield Star from more than a month earlier and decided to help sarah and sell a few newspapers at taxi drivers expense, bloody cheap publicity seeking morons.

She claimed to have done a survey of fifty people asking questions like, Have you or anyone you know ever had a bad experience in a taxi?

The driver did plead guilty.

Perhaps the incident caused her to hate all cab drivers who knows but who in their right mind would abuse a passenger in such a way even if the driver actually thought she was a tramp, telling her so was not the type of thing expected from a fit and proper person. lol

In my opinion it would appear from whats been written that this cabby has a serious problem understanding basic passenger diplomacy.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

There is no dispute about the guilt of that driver but the intention behind this woman's campaign. Calling it Hail rape is praising rape a little and it can be said is a direct ripoff of Hailsafe campaign http://www.hail-safe.co.uk/. The slating she recieved from sheffield forum didn't deter her from starting another one in Nottingham.

Alright the driver called her a tramp so why then would want to rape her if he disliked her enough to abuse her. The scenario doesn't add up.

Having read some of the thread she came across to me as sensible and quite articulate, which is more than can be said for a lot of cab drivers. Why you call her a tramp is beyond me because it would appear she has a valid point. This website is full of incidents of hackney and private hire cab drivers raping female passengers so whats the problem? If it was lie then perhaps you could call her a trouble maker but the fact is it isn't a lie.

It might be wise to put yourself in the shoes of a woman before you cast judgment on someone who has probable cause for highlighting the imperfections of the Taxi trade.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

This is what she wrote when challenged why she was campaigning for changes [/quote]
The lady didn't even do her homework wheather these changes are needed or not because that wouldn't fit in with badmouthing local taxi drivers. ALL the so called changes are already in place, and this campaign is barking at thin air. To suggest all taxi drivers are rapists maybe easier to accept for you but not where I work. The sheffield forum thread went on for days and she failed to answer any questions other than repeat the mantra of making taxis safe. The taxis are safe, and no rule changes required, so the problem is hers alone in accusing without basis.

Here are some results from her survey, note the questions for their fair wording: 96% didn't know that rapists got taxi licenses because it doesn't happen!!
and the guy who abused her is not a rapist so where does an accusation she made and contrived to have a bloke convicted translate into all taxi drivers being rapists?
Just her version of events convicted that taxi driver, and since then her campaining would suggest that driver wasn't as guilty as this wicked woman would have us believe, she's just seeking publicity and I'm surprised you can't see that.

From what you posted I don't see any accusations against Sheffield cab drivers, all I see is a desire to make all passenger carrying vehicles safe for women. Didn't Diane Lamplugh have the same desire? The fact is she lives in Sheffield and she feels she has a right to highlight the potential for rape against women on public transport, especially where woman travel in isolation.

She doesn't actually mention the changes she wants made, if any? However I can help her along the way by suggesting the anyone who cannot supply details of a criminal background check since the age of 18, should not be licensed.

By the way, if you wan't evidence of cab drivers sexually asaulting women then I can supply you with as many incidents as you desire?

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

Where did she say all Taxi drivers are rapists?

I was under the impression she said all Taxi drivers are not rapists.

It would appear you not only call this lady a slut but you accuse her of saying something she didn't? If your going discuss the matter lets keep to the facts.

The fact is she was abused by a cab driver who also abused four other women. She didn't like it so she started a campaign to highlight the fact that there are problem drivers within the cab trade, who she feels shouldn't be driving taxis. I think the same way and so do most people on this site but from what I can see hasn't actually said what she wants changed, if anything?

If you think everything is fine in Sheffield then thats your opinion, she hasn't said all taxi drivers in sheffield are potential rapists but on the law of averages when considering the number of badge holders in sheffield there is a distinct possibility that some might? Now thats not her saying that its me and if you don't realise that then you have your head buried in the sand.

You say rapists don't get licensed, well I believe that is too narrow an ambit to work on so I'll expand the word "rapist" to include sex offenders because there are lots of sex offenders including rapists that have been licensed and some that we don't know about are in all probability still licensed to this day.

We have highlighted countless sex offenders and rapists on TDO from all over the country and unfortunately the county of Yorkshire is no exception.

Regards

JD

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This is the type of thing this woman is on about, right on your doorstep and like I said if you think it doesn't happen and the potential for such a thing happening in Sheffield is unrealistic then you are living in cloud cuckoo land.

Derby Evening Telegraph

December 1, 2007 Saturday

Taxi driver guilty of sex assault on female passenger

A Taxi driver has been warned to stay out of trouble or face going to jail for groping a woman in his cab.

Abdul Quayyum, 39, was giving the 20-year-old a lift home in Long Eaton when he grabbed her private parts and leered, "are they pierced?"

The married dad-of-three had also bragged about his manhood and said he would show the woman "a good time" before handing her his number.

At Derby Crown Court, Judge David Pugsley said: "There's an element of trust between young women on their own and a taxi driver. It would weaken the public confidence in taxi drivers if it wasn't made clear this sort of behaviour is going to lead to a prison sentence."

He sentenced Quayyam to six months' jail but suspended it, adding: "We are not dealing with a case of deviant sexual activity in its extreme force. We are dealing with the truly unpleasant harassment of a female passenger."

The sentence means Quayyum of Marks Close, Littleover, will not serve the prison term if he stays out of trouble.

He was also told to pay his victim £650 compensation, undergo a two-year supervision programme, sign the sex offenders' register for seven years and was banned from being a cabbie indefinitely.

The now-unemployed cabbie admitted sexual assault. The offence happened on March 10. The court heard the woman had to take a month off work after the attack and now suffers from anxiety and depression.

After the assault, she typed his registration number into her mobile phone and gave the police a piece of paper he had written his phone number on.

Judge Pugsley is to write the victim after commending her for her courage. He said: "Women are no longer going to put up with it. I think it has to be made very clear taxi drivers are not above reproach.

"It's also rather pathetic that a man on the verge of middle-age is behaving like this to a young woman.

"It's distressing and serious."
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Heres another one.

Leicester Mercury

November 30, 2007 Friday

Cabbie's sex assault on frightened young passenger

A taxi driver who frightened a teenaged passenger by fondling her breasts and forcing her to kiss him has avoided a jail sentence.

Leicester Crown Court heard that Noormohammed Patel (32) also stroked the 18-year-old's thigh.

Patel, of Haynes Road, North Evington, admitted one count of sexual assault, but claimed he touched the student in a bid to get her out of his vehicle after a dispute over the fare.

Married father-of-three Patel, who worked for Loyal Taxis, Humberstone Lane, was given a three-year community order with supervision.

He was also ordered to pay his victim £500 compensation in "token reparation" and attend a sex offender group work programme.

The young woman got into Patel's taxi in Syston at 4am on January 14.

Elaine Rogers, prosecuting, told Leicester Crown Court that Patel offered the talkative teenager a cigarette, which she accepted.

She said she then began to feel "uncomfortable" and threw the cigarette away.

Ms Rogers said: "When the taxi stopped, she had a £10 note and she was handing it over to the defendant who said 'I don't know how much to charge'."

Patel put his left hand on the back of her head and pulled her towards him, forcing a kiss.

The woman later told the police: "I was trying to get my face away, so he wouldn't kiss me, but he managed to kiss me for a brief moment."

She said she pushed his chest to get him away, before he put his right hand inside her bra.

The teenager said she broke free but he put his arm on her thigh and tried to kiss her again.

Patel, who had an interpreter in court, had since stopped driving taxis and was working as an operator at the firm. He will have to enlist on a sex offenders' register for five years.
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From this version of events its not clear if the driver was a hack or p/h? One thing for certain is that the vehicle was not an LTI type.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/features/TAXI- ... 3450673.jp

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.