A rising tide of fare dodging, verbal abuse and assaults are putting Perth taxi drivers’ safety and livelihoods at risk.
Employers fear some drivers may be ready to quit and have urged Police Scotland and Perth and Kinross Council to help them crack down on the problem.
Just this week it was alleged that an ACE Taxis’ driver was brutally assaulted in the early hours of the morning by a young man who had no intention of paying.
In the past, fare dodging has been a relatively infrequent offence, but the firm’s proprietor Andy Lothian and owner, Derek Petterson, said the low level criminality was now “out of control”.
Mr Petterson said passengers were regularly entering taxis without the funds to pay while drivers faced regular abuse and, in the most serious of incidents, were being subjected to an increasing number of physical attacks.
“Fare dodging and abuse of drivers has always happened periodically but we are now seeing it far more often and unfortunately it has become much more sinister.”
Mr Petterson said that offences had been escalating and that the allegation of an attack on one of his drivers this week was “just too much to take”.
“We have to say ‘enough is enough’ and hope the police, the public and other partners in the community will help us crack down on this,” he continued.
“We just want to do our jobs and see our passengers and drivers get home safely at the end of the day.”
Mr Lothian said it was “a small minority” of people who seemed to think it is OK to dodge fares, but added that the numbers were increasing.
He said he was disgusted to hear of the alleged attack on one of his drivers and asked the public to take a long and hard look at how they treat the taxi staff who provide an important public service.
Mr Lothian added that the driver had been left so badly shaken that he is thinking of giving up driving.
“Though violence is thankfully still rare it does sadly happen to us all,” he continued.
“It can be a dangerous game.
“That is why we have CCTV cameras in all our taxis — for the safety of our drivers and our passengers.
“I think more taxi firms should have cameras in their cars. We need them for security.”
Mr Lothian added: “We really need to clamp down on fare dodging. It is not acceptable to get in a taxi with the intention of defrauding the driver.
“We are far from the golden days of the industry. Drivers do not make hundreds and hundreds of pounds.
“We need to put a stop to this.”
Police Scotland said a 38-year-old man had been arrested and charged with a racially-aggravated breach of the peace following an incident in a taxi in Perth’s Argyll Road in the early hours of Thursday January 4.
