A cabbie from Hertford is calling upon East Herts District Council to make in-cab CCTV a requirement for all taxi cabs.
John McCaskie was assaulted on Fore Street, Hertford after he wound down his cab window to ask a group of men if they would stop leaning on his taxi. The mindless criminals proceeded to punch Mr McCaskie in the face.
When Mr McCaskie got out of his vehicle to seek help, he was then assaulted further as he lay helplessly on the ground. Local bouncers spotted the brawl and managed to intervene before Mr McCaskie sustained any more serious injuries.
A spokesman for Foxholes Car Services said that this kind of attack on cabbies is not unusual in the area and that drivers have resigned themselves to the fact that it’s “all just part of the job”.
He said: “Assaults happen in some form every weekend, it’s just the degree of assault which changes.
“Assaults happen in some form every weekend, it’s just the degree of assault which changes.”
“I think a lot of drivers just see it as a hazard of the job and a lot of the time it goes unreported.”
Taxi Requirements
Mr McCaskie would like to see safety equipment, such as in-cab CCTV and partition screens, as a standard requirement for taxis in Hertford just like those in other areas such as Luton and Birmingham.
He commented: “I think the vehicles need to be purpose-built like black cabs. Saloon cars are too small to have four grown bodies crammed in the back. They’re too close to the driver, especially when they start messing around.”
Cameron Alder, 22, from Warner Road in Ware, pleaded guilty to the attack on Mr McCaskie and was told to pay £110 fine with £50 of that being owed to his victim as compensation.
Self-employed, Mr McCaskie, said the compensation he received hadn’t even touched the sides of what he lost as a result of the attack and believes that the court were too lenient on Alder.
He said: “It didn’t even cover my loss of earnings, there was no way I could carry on working that night, let alone the trauma I suffered.”
“I think it’s absolutely shocking. I’m running a public service and if the council can’t provide transport late at night then I think they need to do more to help us.
“All they want is to clean the streets up and they don’t care about the rest of us.”
Council Comments
An East Herts District Council spokesman said: “Taxi drivers are self-employed and choose which vehicle to present for licensing. If a driver feels unsafe in the vehicle they have chosen to licence then they could take any safety measures they feel appropriate or select a different vehicle to licence. This is the same principle that would apply to a shop or any other business.
“East Herts Council takes the issue of safety very seriously and can offer a range