You might imagine that any safety concerns on the holiday Isle of Man would be limited to the annual TT races.
Talk to the taxi drivers on the island, however, and you’ll hear stories of verbal abuse, drivers having to break up fights after passengers have jumped queues, bricks being thrown at vehicles and even physical attacks.
Enter Taxi watch, launched by the island’s taxi trade and in association with Project Centurion, a scheme run by the local Police to ensure a “cleanup” in Douglas, the island’s main town.
As well as providing taxi drivers with more protection by working as a closely-knit unit, drivers who are the victims of crime are able to use the Cab watch name when calling the police, which in turn means that they receive immediate assistance. The scheme also aims to ban persistent troublemakers, violent passengers and drug dealers from members’ taxis, meaning greater security for drivers’.
Fiona Feeney, a long-time Cab Direct customer and Vice Chairperson of Taxi watch said, “This scheme has been really important to us on the island. The situation has become so bad that drivers are becoming reluctant to work at night, but the protection that Taxi watch offers means that they can continue working with the confidence that they will receive the support they need when they need it.”