15 Feb 2008
Cabbies anger over police ‘threat’
TAXI drivers are being threatened with prosecution for transporting
thieves they suspect to be carrying stolen goods.
Cleveland Police claim offenders are using taxis to ferry stolen metal to
scrap dealers across Teesside - often storing the items in wheelie bins
which are then put into the back of cabs.
A letter has been sent to taxi firms that operate across Redcar and
Cleveland warning drivers that if they “know or believe” the goods to be
stolen, they could be charged for dishonestly assisting in their disposal.
But Teesside taxi drivers slammed the threat today, claiming it was
impossible for drivers to know what their passenger was up to.
The growing problem is throughout Teesside, but is most common in
Grangetown and South Bank, say police.
Acting Detective Inspector Darren Birkett, of Redcar and Cleveland Police,
who wrote the letter, said he wanted to warn drivers and urge them to
report anyone they suspect of handling stolen goods.
He said: “Firstly, we want to alert them that if you are stopped you
technically could be done for handling stolen goods.
“Secondly, to bring them on board to alert the police if they have been
called to such a fare where the contents of a wheelie bin have been
transported to scrap merchants.”
John Briggs, company secretary of Tees Cab Company, near the Riverside
Stadium, Middlesbrough, received one of the letters as the firm operates
in Redcar and Cleveland.
He said: “Surely it’s up to the scrap metal dealer to decide whether or not
the goods are stolen. It’s his specialist subject.
“It’s not for the driver to start saying ‘that’s stolen, I’m not going to take
you’.
“You don’t know what situation the driver is getting himself into. You could
end up with a piece of the metal shot through a window.
“At the end of the day he’s just doing his job.”
Taxi driver Ian McPherson, 49, of Ormesby, works in the Redcar and
Cleveland area.
He said: “For me it’s going to put drivers at risk. If you say to a passenger
‘what’s in the bag?’ you are going to get a punch in the mouth.
“It’s just scare tactics but I think they are infringing people’s civil liberties.”
Another Teesside taxi boss, who did not wish to be named, said he did not
believe the police would be able to prosecute taxi drivers.
The taxi boss compared the scrap metal problem to ‘drug runs’ in which
drivers unwittingly take a passenger who is going to a dealer’s address to buy drugs.
He said drivers could suspect that is what their customer is up to - but
could not know for sure.
He said: “There’s no way the driver can be prosecuted by the police. He’s
not buying drugs or telling them to buy drugs.”
Source: GazetteLive
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