Illegal cab drivers, also known as touts or unbooked minicabs, have been served warning of the Mayor and Transport for London’s continuing war on touts this week with the crushing of a car seized from an illegal cab driver….
The crushing of the vehicle coincides with an increase in police and enforcement activity against touting and other illegal cab activity, which starts again this week across all boroughs of the Capital as Londoners begin to celebrate the festive season.
Operation Safer Travel at Night (STaN) involves officers from Transport for London (TfL), the Metropolitan Police Service Safer Transport Command and the City of London Police (CoLP).
Cab-related offences fell by 21 per cent last year, however the aim is to make travelling in London after dark even safer for Londoners and visitors to the city.
And since 2007 police resources focused on this issue have more than doubled, a new team focused on sexual offences has been set up, and last year over 1,250 arrests were made for cab offences.
More than 180 arrests have already been made for touting and other cab-related offences over three weekends this autumn.
The first phase of Operation STaN involved officers checking over 5,000 vehicles and speaking with thousands of Londoners and students to provide safer travel information and encourage Londoners to use licensed taxis or licensed minicabs, reminding them that only taxis (black cabs) can be stopped and picked up off the street without a pre-booking.
A thorough programme of activity has been lined up including a thought provoking campaign warning of the dangers of getting into unbooked minicabs, as well as targeted TfL and police enforcement activity to identify, disrupt and deter illegal cab activity.
Any minicab that isn’t booked through a licensed minicab operator is dangerous and puts the travelling public at risk of attack, including sexual assault and robbery.
Minicabs lined up outside pubs and clubs are breaking the law if they accept your fare without a booking being made first.
The advice is that you should not approach minicab drivers, and any minicab driver that approaches you on the street anywhere is acting illegally; do not get in.
Operation STaN
Deputy Mayor for Policing, Kit Malthouse, said: ‘With the festive party season under way and the nights growing colder and darker we are doing everything we can to crack down on illegal minicab touts and to warn passengers never to pick up an unbooked minicab in the street.’
TfL and the police are using a range of tactics to detect and deal with touts including making greater use of financial investigation and confiscation of assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act and ancillary orders. The car crushed this week was the first to be forfeited to the Safer Transport Command after the driver was convicted in court for purporting to be a licensed minicab driver.
Steve Burton, TfL’s Director of Community Safety, Enforcement and Policing, said: ‘Unbooked minicabs continue to pose a serious risk to the travelling public which is why operations like Operation STaN are so important in raising awareness of the dangers and cracking down on touting and other cab-related offences. We urge the travelling public not to use them.
‘All minicab journeys must be booked through a licensed minicab operator. Only taxis (black cabs) can pick passengers up on the street or at a rank without a booking being made first.’
Chief Superintendent Sultan Taylor, Safer Transport Command, said: ‘The Safer Transport Command are committed to reducing the number of cab-related sexual offences. Our dedicated Cabs Enforcement Unit will continue to be out on the streets of the Capital all year round, tackling touting involving both licensed and unlicensed drivers. Touts should be warned that we are pursuing them through the courts to confiscate their assets obtained through their illegal activity.’
It is illegal for any minicab driver (even drivers licensed by TfL) to accept a fare without a booking made either over the phone, by email or at an office.
Booking a minicab will ensure that there is a record of the journey and it will be carried out by a licensed driver in a licensed, insured car.
TfL and the police aim to ensure that drivers that break the law and put the travelling public at risk are brought to justice.
Recent successes include a bogus cab driver recently being found guilty of touting and driving with no insurance following an arrest made by a plain clothes cab enforcement officer.
Forty-year-old Rasheed Kenku, from Islington, was arrested for touting after being caught by undercover Cab Enforcement police officers in March this year. He was fined £2000 at Stratford Magistrates Court, disqualified from driving for eight months, had six points added to his licence and ordered to pay £350 in court costs.
Tips on using minicabs:
Never approach a minicab on the street or accept a fare, they are acting illegally
Always book so there is a record of your journey
Only black cabs can pick passengers up on the street
Book it, check it and always sit in the back
To get three local cab numbers text "CAB" to 60835.
