National Taxi Association

RELIEVED: Nigel Webb

AN ABERGAVENNY taxi driver yesterday won a battle with Monmouthshire County Council to allow him to keep a camera in his vehicle.

Nigel Webb, 59, from Llanfoist, runs Nigel’s Taxis with his wife Lynn.

He said the couple bought and fitted the camera to the vehicle after suffering vandalism over a five-year period, including damaged paintwork and slashed tyres.

But following a routine inspection by council officers, Mr Webb was told he had to remove the camera or he could face having the vehicle’s taxi licence suspended or even revoked because it constituted a mechanical alteration to the vehicle under the council’s licensing conditions.

He said: “Monmouthshire County Council demanded we take it out and then said if we didn’t it could result in them revoking or suspending our licence but it’s our sole means of livelihood.

“It made me angry because as far as I was concerned it was paid for by us and it’s not a mechanical alteration.”

He said the battery-operated camera was fitted in the same way a satellite navigation system is, with pads on the dashboard. There are also stickers on the rear doors warning people about the camera and any passengers who do not want it on while they are in the taxi can request it is switched it off.

But the Webbs have now received a letter from the council stating they can keep the camera.

Mrs Webb said: “It’s great news. It’s a relief as we weren’t willing to take it out. But the council should have known it wasn’t a mechanical alteration to the vehicle.”

A council spokesman said this was the first time a camera had been fitted in a taxi in Monmouthshire and a review was carried out by council officers.

He confirmed the review concluded the Webbs could keep the camera and any other taxi firms wanting to fit cameras would have their cases reviewed by the council.

source: http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/

SECURITY cameras could soon appear in taxis in Weston to protect vulnerable cabbies from attack.

Taxi firms in the town say they are considering introducing the new technology to reduce the chance of assaults on employees.

The small cameras, which are being sold by Cardiff-based Eyewitness, can be fixed to the windscreen and constantly monitor the inside of the vehicle.

It comes nine months after two men launched a vicious attack on taxi driver Paul Flint outside The Regency in Lower Church Road after he requested payment last July.

Apple Taxis general manager Daniel Rowe said his company, which operates 120 cars, was considering taking on the new technology.

He said: “There are clear positives for both the driver and customers by using these cameras.

“Incidents in our taxis happen very rarely, once in a blue moon, but in such cases these cameras would be useful.

“However before we decide to use it we want to find out if the customers are comfortable with being monitored.”

Worle Cars phone operator Louise Pearsal said she thought the installation of cameras would be a good idea.

She said: “I know a lot of the day drivers would probably not be bothered but the night drivers may well be interested in the added security from an in-car camera.

“I think people would think twice before causing trouble if they noticed a camera looking straight at them.”

David Alsop, director of Weston-based DHA Fire and Safety Ltd, is acting agent for Eyewitness in North Somerset.

He said the cameras help drivers who maybe at risk of abuse or false accusations from customers.

He added: “You hear of instances where a customer may make an allegation and the driver has difficulty proving it wrong.

“Installing this device will mean drivers will be able to instantly show what happened, potentially protecting their jobs.

source: http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/

TAXIS in Calderdale are being fitted with CCTV cameras in a bid to boost security.

After a string of violent assaults on cabbies, West Yorkshire Police have secured funding from the Home Office for the equipment.

The borough is following Kirklees in introducing the scheme.

Last December Kirklees councillors approved funding of £28,000 for 100 devices to prevent theft, abuse and assault against drivers.

The systems can record high-quality pictures and sound for up to 32 days.

Figures reveal that there were 82 attacks on Calderdale cabbies in 2007-08. Race was a factor in 19 of the incidents.

Chief Inspector Mark Allsop, said: “Previous experience of CCTV in cabs has been that they are a great success for both passenger and driver safety.”

In Kirklees 50 taxis drivers who have been the victim of crime will have the devices fitted to their cabs. A further 40 will be given to cabbies who regularly carry vulnerable passengers such as children or old people. The remaining 10 will be held back for any future drivers who are victims of crime.

Calderdale Council’s licensing team will be the only agency to download any images.

source: http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/

A TAXI driver who suffered a fractured skull when he was attacked by a passenger has described his ordeal.

Gravesend driver Gordon Bailey, 64, was punched and kicked in the head by 23-year-old Mark Heanan.

Heanan, from Edenbridge, was given an indeterminate jail sentence and told he must serve a minimum of three years, seven months and seven days when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court on March 5 after admitting wounding with intent.

CCTV inside Mr Bailey’s cab recorded the attack, and the footage was shown in court.

Describing the assault on July 13 last year, grandfather-of-four Mr Bailey told News Shopper: “I picked up Heanan from the Railway Tavern in Sole Street at around 10.45pm and he asked to be taken to Paddock Wood.

“I suspected something was wrong with him because he asked me to turn the CCTV inside the cab off, but I told him I couldn’t.

“We got to Kent Close in Paddock Wood at around 11.30pm and I put the handbrake on, turned around and he instantly leapt from the back into the passenger seat.

“He demanded the keys for the car and I didn’t have a chance to refuse because he just punched me in the face.”

Mr Bailey added: “Then he was trying to get me out of the car, and I was leaning on the horn to sound it.

“He got me out of the car and was kicking and punching me in the head outside the car, and we ended up at the rear of the car and it was all caught on camera.

“People in Kent Close heard the car horn and came out to see what was going on.

“Then Heanan took the takings for the night, around £100, and ran off.”

Kent Close residents called the emergency services and an ambulance took Mr Bailey to hospital in Tunbridge Wells.

His wife of 43-years, Sandra Bailey, said: “When I saw him I felt weak-legged because blood was coming out of him and he was going in and out of consciousness.”

The 64-year-old added: “I did not know whether he was going to survive.

“He had a scan that night at around 1am and the doctors told me he was going to be OK, and I was so relieved.”

Doctors told Mr Bailey, of Bourne Road, that another kick to the head could have killed him.

He said: “I had a broken nose and lost the cartilage in it, fractured cheekbones, fractures on my forehead and bruising all over my body.

“I still have dents on my face. My cheekbones are still broken.”

Mr Bailey has been a taxi driver for 26 years and says the attack will not stop him working as a cabbie.

He said: “I went back to work on August 3 because I have to make a living.

“I had to pick myself up, dust myself down and get on with life.”

source: http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/

A TAXI trade body in Southampton is requesting fare hikes after council bosses ordered drivers to pay for spy cameras in their cabs.

The Southampton Hackney Association (SHA) wants city councillors to approve fare rises of around 10 per cent for a typical journey.

SHA chairman Ian said increased business costs were hitting drivers’ livelihoods. He said in the past year insurance premiums had risen four per cent, docks permits had gone up from £40 to £50, while the introduction of four new taxis had increased competition for customers.

The introduction of compulsory £710 “taxicams” and a requirement to have two MoTs a year had also added to costs, he said.

Over the past decade fares in Southampton have dropped from among the most expensive the in the country to 116th out of 380 authorities, according to a trade survey. Fares last went up two years ago.

Taxis are set to be fitted with cameras as standard with the boss of one leading firm describing racist abuse to drivers as “out of control”.

Chris Vale, who manages 24/7 Taxis, spoke out after a customer who admitted racially abusing one of his drivers avoided prison.

The victim, 23-year-old Aras Cassidy, who is Kurdish, said foreign drivers are subjected to racist comments twice a day.

Brian Styles, 49, of Maple Heights, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harassment and failing to provide a specimen, and he was found guilty of taking a vehicle without consent. He was fined £900, banned from driving for a year and ordered to pay £300 costs.

Styles was arrested after driver Mr Cassidy went to collect him from The Rising Sun pub in Battle Road in October.

“I tried to be friendly and have a chat with him but he just started saying things like, ‘Why don’t you go back to your own country?’

“I ignored him but he kept swearing so I got out of the car. He jumped in the front seat and removed the handbrake.

“I was shocked but we get comments like that twice a day and you just learn to live with it. Most people we pick up are really nice but you get some who are aggressive.

“I sometimes ask myself: ‘What am I doing in this country?’ but all my best friends are English and I have been here for 12 years.”
Mr Vale, 43, was stunned by the sentence.

“They should have put him inside. The racism from some people is getting out of control. I have lived all over the UK and grew up when the National Front were at large but I have never known anything like this.”

Chief Inspector Mark Ling said: “We take a positive stance against hate crime of all types. Nobody should live or work with the fear and anxiety that this type of crime can cause. I would urge people who are victimised or abused in this way to report it. If nobody knows about the it then little can be done to stop it happening again.”

Mr Vale’s company has 70 cars, making it the biggest fleet in the town.

About one third of his drivers are foreign nationals and they all report the same kinds of problems.

“Since 2005 issues with racism and drugs and people doing runners have become much worse,” said Mr Vale.”I have people get in the car talking openly about buying drugs,” added Mr Cassidy.

Now Mr Vale is supporting a council scheme, funded by the Safer Hastings Partnership and overseen by the licensing team, to put CCTV cameras into taxis across the town.

A council spokesman said: “It’s likely to take place over several phases but we are confident that this is a positive move, increasing safety for both driver and passenger. Any abuse towards drivers, whether verbal or physical, is completely unacceptable and these cameras will go a long way in providing an extra element of protection.”

But Reg Torab, 49, who runs New Carmiles sounded a note of caution.

“I do not think cameras should be compulsory,” he said. “They do help when there are incidents but we keep very records of every job and there are issues about customers’ privacy as well.”

source: http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/

A BID by two cabbies to challenge compulsory cameras in Southampton taxis has been struck out before their case could be heard.

Southampton City Council persuaded a judge that it should go no further as the pair were effectively appealing against a change of policy not a licensing condition requiring the controversial cameras.

But the taxi drivers insisted the council had only won on a legal technicality and vowed to fight on.

The council decided last August that all 263 hail and ride Hackney Carriage taxis and the 450 private hire vehicles in the city must have digital security cameras fitted.

Clive Johnson, chairman of Radio Taxis, the city’s largest firm, and Kevin May, the city’s largest taxi proprietor, launched a legal action after the council sent a letter confirming the requirement.

They wanted to argue that compulsory cameras breached a driver’s right to privacy under the human rights laws and that the requirement to install the £700 cameras reduced the resale value of their licences.

The Daily Echo reported last week how a taxi driver was trying to sell his vehicle licence, or plate, together with a new seven-seater taxi for £55,000, just weeks after it had been virtually given away in a lottery style council draw.

Mr May and Mr Johnson also claimed the decision to make them compulsory was disproportionate when recordings had only been retrieved from cars about once a month.

But council legal chiefs argued that Southampton Magistrates’ Court could not hear the appeal as it was against a statement detailing a change in policy, rather than the licensing condition requiring a camera be fitted, which only came into play when a new licence was granted or an existing one renewed after one year.

The council admitted that any suggestion in its letter that a taxicam condition had been immediately imposed by councillors was “simply wrong”.

Mr May said: “It was not far off what we expected. But we are not going to stop here. It’s going to continue.

We don’t think it’s reasonable to ask 100 per cent of drivers to have these cameras. It infringes human rights.”

Councillor Royston Smith, Cabinet member for community safety, said: “We hope that safety cameras in our taxis have been very successful at preventing crimes from happening.

“We are one of the few authorities in the country to require taxis to be fitted with these cameras and I am pleased that this is still the case.”

Cabbies could be forced to install security cameras in a month as the Government reacts to the slaying of taxi driver Hiren Mohini.

Passengers will absorb the cost, but this should only amount to about 30c extra on the flagfall, according to the NZ Taxi Federation.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce and Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson yesterday met representatives from the federation, taxi companies and others in the industry to debate the options for improving safety.

Many Auckland cabbies say they are too scared to work at night after the killing police described as “frenzied” and “vicious”.

Mr Joyce said the group was leaning towards security cameras over screens - which sometimes caused communication and air conditioning problems - but there would be a full investigation before any decision.

It is 12 days since Mr Mohini was stabbed to death in Mt Eden for a $15.20 fare. In what police say is a crime-fighting first for Auckland, a billboard has been put up to help the 40-plus team of officers track the killer.

It asks for help identifying a distinctive bloodstained blue bag found near Mr Mohini’s car, a black knitted cap in the bag and a man who features in security camera footage.

The footage showed the man carrying a similar bag.

Mr Joyce said it was no longer a question of if, but how and when a security order was made.

“Sadly, I think we’ve all come to the realisation that taxi drivers in New Zealand are less safe than they were and it’s not something anybody would wish for, but we have to lookvery closely at mandating a higher level of safety initiatives - particularly for those working at night.”

But Mr Joyce said he wanted evidence from Australia examined before a decision was made. He had asked for a report within a month and hoped to “make a call pretty quickly after that”.

Taxi Federation executive director Tim Reddish said there had been a 70 to 75 per cent reduction in attacks on cabbies in Queensland since cameras were made compulsory.

“Over there everybody who gets a cab knows and there has been a cultural change in the way cab drivers are treated.”

Mr Reddish said the New Zealand taxi industry operated on a number of levels and he understood those at the lower end would be worried about cost.

“But my message to them is not to worry too much,” he said. “The cost is recoverable over time and I don’t think it is as big a barrier as they think it will be.”

The Queensland security cameras operated with three lenses - one snapping the passenger getting in, one in the front seat and one in the back, he said.

Data was stored remotely in a fireproof and waterproof box and there were strict privacy protocols about who could access it.

Mr Reddish said notices were put in cabs warning people they had been photographed.

Meanwhile, police are taking unprecedented steps in the hunt for Mr Mohini’s killer.

The billboard in Fort St in central Auckland appeals for information and police will give retailers and supermarkets DVDs to run in-store. The murder investigation is also the feature story on the TV2 show Police 10/7 tonight.

“We’re trying a range of methods to appeal to the public for information,” said the inquiry head, Detective Senior Sergeant Hywel Jones.

“The billboard space was vacant and its location ties in nicely with the fact that we’re appealing to Asian communities in the inner city to help us solve this mystery.”

Members of the police Asian Safety Patrol Group would hand out flyers and talk to people celebrating Chinese New Year at the ASB Showgrounds on Saturday, he said.

Anyone with information about the killing of Hiren Mohini should call 0800 444014, Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 for anonymous tips or email [email protected]

source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/

Cabbies urged to install CCTV

A CAMPAIGN has been launched in Rotherham to encourage cabbies to fit CCTV cameras in an attempt to improve driver safety.

CCTV systems are being offered for rent from £5 a week and can be used to record verbal or physical assaults.

The cameras can act as a deterrent and footage can be used as evidence to bring offenders to justice.

Rotherham Council’s licensing team is urging taxi and private hire drivers to have cameras installed.

Brian Crabtree, of Crabacabs, Maltby, said: “I decided to have the cameras installed in my vehicles to give both myself and my passengers an added level of personal security.

“From a personal point of view, the system protects me in the event of any allegation that maybe made against me and also deters anyone carrying out a verbal or physical assault because I can just press a small button and record any incident.

“This can then be handed over to the licensing authority or police to assist in any investigation.”

Deborah Bragg, licensing manager for Rotherham Council, said: “We are working closely with trade representatives and South Yorkshire Police to encourage drivers to consider installing such devices in their vehicles.”

Coun Peter Wootton, chairman of Rotherham Licensing Board, said: “CCTV would certainly increase the safety of everyone using local taxis.

“Unfortunately, we do have cases where local drivers have been attacked so we are encouraging companies to install these kind of systems. They also provide back-up evidence in other incidents, such as when passengers refuse to pay the fare.”

source: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/

A TAXI driver was beaten unconscious after asking for a passenger’s fare up-front.

Rashid Ahmed, 46, pulled over on Cross Church Street in Huddersfield town centre to pick up a pedestrian who had flagged him down at about 4.30am on Sunday.

The man got into his car and demanded to be taken to Titanic Mills in Linthwaite.

When the cabbie asked for his fare before he set off, the man refused.

Mr Ahmed said: “He told me he had no money and said someone would pay when I got there. I told him I wasn’t leaving.

“After about two minutes I stepped out of the car and opened one of the passenger doors to ask the man to get out.

“He refused. I was standing there in the road asking him to get out.”

Eventually the passenger stepped out of the car but punched Mr Ahmed twice in the face, knocking him to the ground.

He then set upon his victim and beat him unconscious.

“I can’t remember anything after that,” Mr Ahmed said.

The father-of-one, from Marsh, was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary to be treated for minor injuries to his head and face.

Makhan Singh, of Kirklees Hackney Carriage Association, said: “I’m shocked and appalled because of the severity of this beating. He took a real pounding.

“It comes back to the same old thing – we need cameras in the taxis urgently.”

Last month Kirklees Council’s cabinet approved £28,000 for 100 in-car cameras to combat theft, abuse and assault against drivers.

Police have arrested a man over Sunday’s incident. He is currently on bail.