There’s been a lot of talk about the price of a Taxi.
Many people say we are expensive and that they would rather use the cheap minicab touts.
But what price do you put on your safety?
Below is a story sent to Taxi Leaks by a victim of a minicab predator. Just one of the alleged 21 minicab rapes from the last year.
That’s just the ones that were reported, the Met Police suggest 90% of rapes and sexual assaults go unreported. This factor would put the yearly figure closer to a staggering 200, or to put it another way, approximately 4 a week.
The fact is, a safe Taxi home is not expensive,
ITS PRICELESS.
Rebecca’s Story:
“I can still remember certain smells, that send me into a state of panic. The vanilla air freshener, his breath from the Red Bull he kept swigging and his cheap aftershave was pungent.
These smells always take me back to that moment he held me down and raped me in the back of his minicab.
I’d been out clubbing with my friend in Shoreditch and it was the early hours of the morning. We’d had a good drink and now ready for bed, we stood on the kerb looking for the orange light of a Taxi to take us home
Just as we were about to phone for a taxi, a private hire minicab pulled up. The driver asked if we wanted a cab. He asked us where we were going, my friend Brenda lived on Garret Lane, then me onto Putney. He quoted a ridiculously cheap fare and even agreed to go via McDonald’s Wandsworth drive through as Brenda was hungry.
We arrived at my friends house. ‘Text me as soon as you’re home’ she said.
The minicab drove off again but stopped at a newsagents. ‘I’m thirsty,’ he said. ‘Do you want anything?’
I asked for a Lucozade, thinking it might help sober me up.
But when he handed it to me, I was aware that the seal had been broken. Halfway through drinking it, I realised it seemed to taste weird, so I stopped drinking. I never thought for one moment that he’d actually spiked my drink.
At some point, Brenda called my phone;
‘Where are you?’ she asked worriedly.
But before I could answer, the driver snatched the phone and said “She wants to come home with me”, then he laughed, which really freaked me out.
Things were becoming more blurry and I could hear Brenda going mad, shouting at him to take me straight home, but he just laughed.
He slipped the phone back into my bag and I started to relax slightly as the area seemed familiar. But at the last minute, he didn’t turn into my street. Instead, he pulled into a deserted side street.
He got out and came round to my door and then roughly pulled me out. That’s when I started to scream.
He grabbed my neck in a head lock and said he would kill me if I screemed again. He opened the rear door and pushed me onto the back seat and climbed in on top of me, ripping at my clothing. My whole body froze, and I blacked out.
When I came round, he was still on top of me. I could hear him, I could smell him, but I couldn’t feel him. It was like my body, my mind, my ability to talk, everything was paralysed.
When he was done, he dragged me out on the pavement, almost naked and he drove off.
I lay there crying until a young couple in a passing car pulled up and called the police. Brenda had heard everything, as when he’d put the mobile in my bag, he failed to turn it off.
Through CCTV the driver was traced and arrested. Although the evidence against him was strong, he denied rape. When I stood up in court, his barrister called me a liar and said I’d offered sex in exchange for the fare. I felt isolated and frightened all over again.
But with the witness statements from my friend and the young couple, plus the police drug test result, the verdict came back guilty. I broke down, overwhelmed to know that people had believed me. The driver was sentenced to nine years.
It’s been tough, but with counselling, I’ve finally realised that although the attack will always be a part of me, I won’t let it take over my life.”
IF YOU NEED HELP
For confidential advice and support contact Rape Crisis on 0808 802 9999
Transport for London plan to ban left or right turns into Trinity Square from Byward Street/Tower Hill due to the implementation of the Cycle Super Highway.
It seems that TFL’s Cycle Super Highway is going to have more of an affect on the Taxi Trade than we first thought!
Comments & objections must be received by the 8th May.
A minicab driver and his friend have been jailed after the driver picked up a woman in Shoreditch, kidnaped her, then took her to a house in E17 where she was raped.
Salam Mohammed. Mohammed Sallah
The minicab tout accepted the fare to take a young woman home, but instead drove her to his friend’s house. Both men were given custodial sentences on Thursday, 23 April at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
Salah Mohammed, 31 (03.05.1983) of Varley Road, E16 had been found guilty of kidnap and encouraging, or assisting the commission of a serious offence, namely rape and jailed for nine years.
His friend, Mohammed Sallah, 38 (01.01.1977) of Hylands Road, E17 had pleaded guilty to rape at an earlier hearing and was jailed for seven years two months.
The court heard how on the night of Friday, 7 March 2014 Salah Mohammed was touting and having his car cleaned at the carwash on Great Eastern Street, EC1. He was approached by the victim’s friend, who asked him to take the victim home. The victim had been drinking and felt unwell.
He was given £10 for the fare and the victim’s friend took a photograph of the vehicle’s registration plate. The friend also called the victim’s family and said that the victim, a woman in her twenties, was on her way home.
When the victim did not arrive at her home address, her non-appearance was reported to police during the early hours of 8 March. It transpired that instead of taking her home, Mohammed had taken the victim to the home of his friend, Mohammed Sallah ,eight miles away in Walthamstow, where Sallah raped her in his house.
After the rape the victim was taken by Salah Mohammed to Wood Green where she was let out of the car and was able to contact her family and speak to police to report the offence.
Detective Constable Dele Bolude from the Met’s Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: “This was a despicable crime. For criminal cases, DWI law firm need to be checked out! I would like to praise the victim’s courage in coming forward and reporting it to police. I hope that this sentence sends a clear message regarding the seriousness of this type of offending and gives other victims of sexual offences the courage to come forward.” If you need for claiming compensation after your injury , you can check it out from here!
Detective Inspector Simon Giles from the Met’s Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: “The Met Police is committed to prosecuting sex offenders and working with partners to support victims of crime. The events of March 8 last year have had a devastating effect on the victim but I hope that these convictions will give her some comfort and closure on her road to recovery.”
Cab Chat Radio Show 22/04/2015
With SuperCabby & MacTheCab
Topics Discussed This Week:
End of Credit Card Airmiles and Cashback
Cash Only Signs
Results of the UCG Agm and the new committee
Taxi Technology Podcast?
What The Papers Say with Mick The Brit
UCG Demo Oxford Street 21st April
LIVE broadcast Tuesday 21st April from 1pm
Eurovision Song Contest
Changing the Oak Broadcast to the 2nd Monday of every month.
Thunderbirds (Theme Music)
Courtney Connell to replace Bob Oddy at TFL committee campaign
LCDC enforcing the drop off points at Heathrow airport
Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race
TFLs New Route Master bus crash in 2013, no recall on these buses!
Japanese Game Show where male contestants have to sing while a young lady gives him a hand job!
Mystery TV & Film Theme Tune Competition
Cab Chat Film Review
Anyone unsure as to the reason for Tuesdays action against TFL Please ring the Demo Information Line 020 3397 3376
SuperCabby & MacTheCab’s new format radio show. Both are London Taxi Drivers with 40 years driving London Taxis between them, they share their views and opinions of the London Taxi Trade interspersed with music and Jingles.
They called on the local authority to allow them the option of using customised vans, people carriers and minibuses as opposed to the existing black cabs which they described as “expensive and unreliable”.
Councillors on the environmental licensing committee met in January and gave a mixed response to the idea.
They ruled that more information about the proposed vehicles was required along with a visit across the border where Cheshire West and Cheshire Council have already relaxed restrictions.
Two committee members have since visited a specialist vehicle manufacturing site at Crewe.
And after receiving assurances from the neighbouring authority about the impact of the change, a draft list of approved vehicles to be used as Hackney carriages has now been put together.
Wrexham council’s environmental licensing committee members will now consider the list of vehicles when they meet on Monday afternoon.
A report to the committee states: “Councillor Paul Pemberton and councillor William Baldwin attended the Voyager specialist vehicle manufacturing site at Crewe on March 9.
“During the visit, the councillors were shown around the factory site and given a full overview of how the vehicles are produced.
“Councillor Pemberton concluded that he was happy that the work was being carried out to the highest standard possible and that the work was some of the best he had ever seen.
“Councillor Baldwin commented that the professionalism of the Voyager organisation instilled confidence.”
It adds: “Cheshire West and Chester Council revised their Hackney carriage approved types in February 2014.
“The licensing manager at Cheshire West informed that the change had been a positive one and had not brought about any problems.
“The authority licence vehicles as either Hackney carriage or private hire but the vehicle must meet the relevant specification so as to maintain visible differences between the two licence types so as not to cause confusion to customer and public.”
Among Wrexham council’s proposed vehicles are the Mercedes Vito M8, Renault NX8 and Vauxhall Vivaro NX8.
The Hackney carriages would differ to private hire vehicles by having a maroon coloured license plate, a meter to calculate the fare and full wheelchair access.
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