The Southampton Daily Echo First have highlighted the dangers that taxi drivers face whilst driving around our city streets. Apparently two drivers have reportedly been attacked within just 2 days.
In one late night incident a driver is reported to have been knocked unconscious in Swathling, and in another a taxi driver was said to have been stabbed outside Southampton Central Railway Station.
Chairman Ian Hall of the Southampton Hackney Association (SHA) says there needs to be more attention paid to the safety of the taxi drivers in the city, saying that 'not enough attention is paid to the difficulties taxi drivers face'.
Ian has been a taxi driver for 33 years and recalls a murder of a taxi driver in the 1980s. Highlighting the dangers of the job and the need for drivers to be extra vigilant he said:
“What concerns me, is that in the last 22 years there have been 65 taxi drivers murdered in this country. It’s a particularly dangerous job at night. The majority of customers are absolutely fine and taxi drivers do a good job at getting people home safely. It’s all sorts of different people we are picking up.... It can be a bit of a volatile job but this is a good city to live and work in. Drivers need to be a bit careful but they are anyway.”
The police are investigating both of the attacks and have interviewed at least one suspect. Anyone with any information on either of the incidents is asked to contact Hampshire Constabulary on 101.
Trustworthy: Southampton's White Taxis
Recently The Daily Echo ran a letter from The Southampton Hackney Association's Chairman Ian Hall in their Soapbox feature. Ian's letter was to quash the misleading comments in the Echo's previous article of 28/7/14 about 'clause 10', and the proposed relaxing of rules surrounding private hire vehicles. Here is the content of the letter featured:
"Some of the Statements within the [Daily Echo] article titled "For Safety's Sake, don't relax taxi driver rules" are extremely misleading and it is disapopointing that yet again taxi drivers come under the microscope for being a risk to customers.
This present Government's Deregulation Bill which was passed through the House of Commons, now on its way to The House of Lords has three proposed reforms connected within our industry.
The contentious one being Clause 10, which would allow persons without a Private Hire Vehicle Licence (PHV) - what is commonly called a mini-cab in London - to drive one when the vehicle is off-duty, threatening to place passengers, in particular women at an increased risk.
Tara Duel from Southampton Rape Crisi stated in the article: "It will no longer be possible to know whether a person driving a cab is licensed to do so." She then goes on to say, "Making people reluctant to use cabs as a trusted form of transport."
We pride ourselves in Southampton that under the 2000 Transport Package we have a corporate colour of white for all 283 taxis, whilst the private hire trade colour scheme is any colour but white.
The Unite Union Southampton taxi branch chairman, Perry McMillan, is pictured in this article with five Southampton white taxis in the background. He knows full well that there has been widespread criticism of Clause 10, which is all to do with private hire vehicles and not taxis".
As the Daily Echo quite rightly states in their Soapbox section, Southampton's White Licensed Taxis are Trustworthy, with only the licensed taxi driver legally allowed to drive the vehicle. Find out more about the safety and training of Southampton Hackney Carriage drivers here.
Below a copy of the SHA chairman's letter as it appeared in the Daily Echo.
February 2015 sees the arrival of the biggest cruise ship to have ever been built to Southampton. Currently being fitted out in Italy, she is called Britannia and can carry 3,600 passengers and 1,400 crew. Britannia has 15 passenger decks, and the length of her hull is taller than the Eiffel Tower!
With cruise bookings already in place for the vessel owned by P&O Cruises, perhaps you will be one of the guests on her maiden voyage? The White Southampton Hackney Licensed Taxis will be waiting to help you at the Cruise Terminals, indeed why not book your taxi to and from the terminal today?
