Taxi Driver Online

More on the Wolverhampton personal alarms stuff mentioned in the other thread, but this is really a different topic.


New help provided to ensure safety for taxi drivers

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/loc ... i-drivers/

Taxi drivers across a city have been given extra help for protecting themselves.

[Photo of the licensing chair here, brandishing one of the personal alarms and the written safety guide.]
https://www.expressandstar.com/resizer/ ... H542I4.jpg

Wolverhampton Council is helping to protect taxi drivers by providing personal safety alarms in every vehicle and safety guides for every driver.

The Secured by Design alarms, part of a national police security initiative, have a powerful 140 decibel siren and will help drivers raise the alarm if they feel threatened or unsafe.

The alarms will be rolled out across the council’s fleet of 20,000 licensed vehicles as drivers attend their annual inspections.

To offer further protection, the authority’s regulatory committee has approved the option of installing driver safety enclosures which separate drivers from passengers.

In addition, the council has worked in partnership with West Midlands Police to produce a ‘Safety Tips for Taxi and Private Hire Drivers’ guide.

The guide gives helpful information about subjects such as vehicle condition, accepting and collecting passengers, best ways to communicate and what to do if a problem arises.

Councillor Phil Page, chair of Wolverhampton Council’s statutory licensing committee and regulatory committee, said: “We deal with licences for a lot of taxis in Wolverhampton and the safety of both passengers and drivers is our top priority. Everyone has a right to feel safe in a taxi.

"As a licensing authority we constantly review driver and passenger safety and ways this can be improved.

"Providing personal alarms is a great initiative to reassure and protect our drivers.

“Being a taxi driver is a very important job as so many people rely on them for getting to appointments, travelling to work or enjoying leisure time.

"For this reason, I am also pleased that we have worked with West Midlands Police to develop a helpful guide full of useful pointers to make journeys safer and more comfortable for everyone.”

The driver safety advice guide is free and available to download at wolverhampton.gov.uk/licences/taxi-licences.

three things come to mind

1) will other councils be happy at drivers working their areas with these personal alarms
2) will it spark demands from drivers working alongside wolves plated vehicles to demand their councils do the same
3) will they absorb the cost of this or up the fees to maintain their profit margin

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

I suppose we should applaud this basket case council for at least trying something.

Will they work? I very much doubt a thief or a thug or a pervert is going to be put off by an alarm.

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IDFIMH