Taxi Driver Online

Please come off your high horse, you are not the only one to want safety for women in taxis. I note that you ignored the survey that she used to justify her claims nor have you answered how the leap is made from verbal abuse to rape. Also why she would wants rape to be available on a hail basis like hailing a taxi
The lady is seeking publicity only and her and for that matter your desires for a safer world are no different any other law abiding person. The lady wants to change the rules and yet doesn't have a clue what the rules are. I feel strongly about any suggestion that most cab drivers are a danger to the public which clearly is a slur. There were suggestions like pay up front schemes which is a no no, and crb checks which already happen, so what exactly does she want?

Apples and pears argument me thinks. Facts are sir that she was't raped and fact is that she did this campaign as part of her uni media studdies course and needed subject matter. Fact is that she launches a campaign by approaching the newspapers to give them a juicy story and then uses the same newspaper article to promote her own website for scaremongering. I am surprised at your better than thou attitude towards the taxi trade sir.

One thing that always pees me off, if any have to go to court (drivers) for what ever reason,they have to have an interpretor. If that is the case then the L.As have a lot to answer to by giving out licenses to people who do not understand the language.

We had one in Newport, spoke perfect English - in court - no understandee.

_________________
if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

I think that issue is being looked into and the endless pot of money put aside for translators is being cut by the gov.

Not sure for courts, but defo for council leaflets.

The view being taken is the more leaflets written in a foreign language, the less likely folks are going to learn English.

_________________
IDFIMH

What's the common theme / denominator in the vast majority of these highlighted cases that have been posted on TDO?

But you can't mention that nowadays.

. . . . even though it's the truth.

I took the driver to court and yes he was a licenced driver who had all the criminal checks and he did have a criminal background. But Taxi Drivers can driver Taixs with a criminal background which is one of the guidlines I want to change. I am not saying all people with criminal background should drive Taxis but individuals with criminal backgrounds of rape and assult should not be driving Taxis. I feel its a very trusting job with the majority being able to lock you in the back of th Taxi, which is what the driver did to me.

In regards to stats thare are none. When I took the Taxi Driver to court that attacked me, he was founf guilty then was drivign a Taxi the very next day ebcause of a loop hole in the system that allowed him to appeal. My Taxi Driver had also attacked a further 4 women before but were all too scared to take him to court. The reason why there are no stats is because the Police do not record the crime with Taxi Driver. It is just recorded as a sexual assault or rape.

I however am compiling my own stats which is why I wanted people on the forum to come forward.


She's hardly received a bachelor’s degree in English.

'Attacked'? Or abused? A strong word that seems to have some inappropriate usage nowadays, to suit peoples arguments.

Where does it say "rape"?
Sounds to me that this guy has viewed her with his own religious and moral values.
He can believe what he likes but he should have kept those views to himself.
How she got from here to "rape", is what I don't get.

_________________

http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

We have had many similar cases locally BUT drivers are never prosecuted bacause before the LO even starts to deal with it the council gets a solicitors letter accusing it of racism for investigating the incident and the complainent usually is hauled into the police station to be charged with racism and they immediately back off

It takes a very brave person to stand up against that

I take it the police in your manor work without evidence then? Absolute rubbish usually spouted by racists as justification for their warped views. What you describe is not the norm and you know it.

Of course it is as you sort of say, but it is not like Smith,Jones or Evans in great numbers is it

careful what you say.

_________________
if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

"Hailrape" is the name given to the campaign. There has never been a suggestion by Miss Coates that she was raped, however we will never know what was on the drivers mind considering the vehicle was stopped by the ladies boyfriend and only after she had sent him text messages of her location.

The name is unfortunate and also inappropriate but the lady is only young and I think after some careful considerations she has perhaps realised this and is now working on a more neutral and user friendly campaign name.

I understand the vehicle was indeed a black cab and not a saloon car as I previously thought. I also understand that the driver in question was alleged to have had several complaints made against him in the past. Whether or not it was for the same thing I do not know but it is a matter of record that he pleaded guilty to "aggressive and racial behaviour with intent to do harm".

The Driver in question has since had his license revoked.

If anyone condones the abuse of vulnerable women then no doubt they will side with the perpetrator of this crime but personally I think anyone who goes to the extent of abusing young female passengers for their own gratification of seeing them humiliated, demoralised and deprived of their self esteem is nothing more than an azzhole and in my opinion they deserve to be banned from driving a cab.

It has been alluded to by the subscriber from Sheffield that this lady brought this abuse on herself, I don't subscribe to that theory simply because there is no evidence to support it. He called her a "slut" but why I don't know? Does he have good cause, I suppose thats something you will have to ask him.

Mr GBC stated that most incidents in Taxis and private hire vehicles outside of London are committed by drivers of non British origin. I think if we look at the make up of the collective UK taxi trade outside of London which consists of over 75% non indigenous British nationals, then it is easy to understand why the majority of these incidents are committed by those 75% of drivers. If the majority of the crimes were committed by the minority then we really would have a problem.

Those are facts whether we like them or not and I'm not one for shying away from the facts no matter how unpalatable they might be.

Regards

JD

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

I don't think anyone is condoning the abuse of passengers, or agreeing with the suspended drivers actions.

The posters points were aimed at the use of the word 'rape'. Why use the word? Let’s use 'armed robbery', it has as much relevance.

I've told a few passengers to feck off over the years (with good reason) but I’d hate to think they went away telling their mates a Taxi driver tried to rape me tonight? (Especially the blokes)

To refer to the fairer sex as vulnerable . . . I can honestly say in the years I’ve been driving a licensed London taxi, virtually every problem I’ve encountered has originated from the 'vulnerable' side of society.

Women give out more abuse to Taxi drivers than any driver could ever comprehend dishing out in a lifetime of taxi driving.

I questioned the word myself when I first read it. I thought it totally innapropriate just likeGusmac and I think every cab driver reading it would probably think the same. The word "hailrape" was unfortunate but people learn from their mistakes and I think this young lady has learn't from the feedback she has received from the cab trade and that is why she intends to change the name.

There is no suggestion that this girl abused the cab driver.

I don't suppose you would put her in the same category of female abusers you describe in your post. I find it strange that London cabbies have more trouble from women than men, especially when statistics clearly show that men are more prone to taxi violence than women. Have a look in the TDO news section and let us know how many women have been prosecuted for doing a runner or beating up a cabbie.

Regards

JD

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

I sort of concur with Mr GBC in that women are, IMO, a far bigger nuisance when pi**ed than fellas.

Whereas you can chuck out a bloke, and maybe help him out, no way can you do that with females.

_________________
IDFIMH

In 2 1/2 years of driving a taxi I have had 6 runners. 2 have been women.

_________________
Grandad,

I base my views on this lady on my past run in with her on another forum.
The lady has the name thing pointed out to her over and over again and she stated in November that she was looking into changing it, and obviously decided not to. I have to say it's more than unfortunate that she starts the same thing with the same name some weeks later in another city. It's a deliberate slur on the taxi trade and to defend the taxi trade against such self publicists as her is not wrong in my book, but a duty for every taxi driver. The fact that this lady has it in for the cab trade is the reason I suggested that I wouldn't put it past her to have contrived a situation, after all it was her convincing testamony that convicted him. This one driver was a bad bloke but why tar all the taxi trade a danger to women?
She has created many a news head lines and then used the articles to publicise her Hailrape website at the expense of the cab trade and you call the name used as unfortunate, what a shame?
Since much was made of using facts then can we have some views on the factual survey the results of which are on her website http://www.myspace.com/hailrape

Here is one petition that she used, just laughable http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Hail ... res-1.html