to think more female taxi drivers would make people more comfortable?

[SueSylvesterforPM]

I've pondered this for a long time

after having a nasty incident with 2 taxi drivers at 15
and now my cousin is telling me (14)

that she got a taxi with a few mates to a birthday and he was asking for numbers address generally being innapropriate and knew how old they were.
Many women I've known have had unpleasant experiences at the hands of Taxi drivers

i'm not tarring them all btw, I've always wondered if I had enough money behind me I'd make a company for it

so yeah is it a daft Idea??

[HerBeX]

Why not, AintMissBeeHiving?

[SardineQueen]

[Georgimama]

My point is 1 in 4 women may have suffered sexual violence in their lives (I don't count myself as one of them based on those two experiences) but that doesn't mean 1 in 4 men is a sex pest/rapist, and also it occurs to me that the danger female taxi drivers would face from their male fares would expose them to a far more significant risk of attack than female passengers currently face from male drivers.

[SardineQueen]

Of course 1 in 4 men isn't a sexual predator

The premise of the thread was, would it be nice if women could choose a female cab driver if they wanted. I say, on balance, yes.

In practice there are loads of reasons why it doesn't happen, many of them covered on this thread.

But on principle I say yes, why not.

[borderslass]

I drove taxi's for just under 5 years the only time I had trouble was off regulars they where told straight either button up/behave or out and walk.Was mostly just verbal just one who took it too far, a local landlord I eventually told DH he threatened to put his windows in. [disclaimer DH is mild as they come]

[AintMissBeehiving]

Because you would hope that when you get into a cab that the person who drives you, wouldn't have any recent convictions for dishonesty/violence. You would also hope that something like an arrest for a sexual assualt might prevent someone being licenced, but it doesn't . To make the situation even worse the CRB now say that unless the taxi driver is undertaking "regulated activity" (basically a LEA or similar contract) then the licensing authority won't be able to get an enhanced CRB check on them.

That's why.

[Kallista]

I get taxis on my own during the day + occasionally late at night. I recommend sit in the front with a confident and in-charge attitude. Take control of the situation straight away by stating the route you wish to take and what time you want to be there (asap to save money!).
Sitting in the back will make you seem nervous and scared. (The car will have central locking anyway!). In the front you can monitor the route, and in an emergency you are near the handbrake and horn. Keep your mobile to hand. Don't say if you are: single / live alone / out all day. I have found it amazing what some men remember - eek! The driver should be pleasant and professional. If anything dodgy happens tell the taxi firm, the town hall (where the taxi drivers get licensed) and the police if needed.
The majority of male drivers are good - i've had tips refused, meters switched off before the journey's end, shopping carried to the door, and some have even insisted on waiting for me to go inside before driving off.
I have had bad experiences with men - at work, at school, on dates, in clubs, so i am just very careful basically. BTW - i can't believe how many women wander round the streets with ipods in!

[SardineQueen]

That's got to be a pretty small proportion of people being licenced though surely. And the risk hasn't changed from before they were licenced - minicabs weren't licenced when I was young, I think it's only come in in the last few years. So the risk has always been the same if you get my drift?

Plus most sexual assault goes unreported - and if warboys is anything to go by even when it is reported very little happens unless they are a massive serial offender. So a CRB wouldn't pick it up I don't think.

Trust your instinct is the best message IMO. And then if your instinct turns out to be wrong, don't blame yourself. We can't all be right all the time.

[HerBeX]

Bloody hell

Thing is Georgie, we know that rapists are repeat offenders, so of course 1 in 4 men aren't rapists.

What we also know, is that abusers are drawn to jobs where they can have more opportunity to abuse. So someone who gets a kick out of bullying old people, is more likely to apply to be a carer, paedophiles are more likely to seek out work with children, it's reasonable to assume that a job which entails driving sometimes drunk women home late at night, is pretty much a dream job for a rapist. It certainaly was for John Warboys. It's not unreasonable to suppose that jobs where there is a big potential for assaulting women, will be over-represented with rapists and other abusers.

[borderslass]

A CRB is only done at the beginning of a first license not for renewals and a lot of offences go unreported so they wouldn't show up anyway.

[HerBeX]

I think the London black cab driver check is much stricter isn't it? Surely you wouldn't get a badge if you had a sexual assault conviction in London?

[Georgimama]

I'm sure that is true, but I don't see how it would work. We already know from the insurance premiums decision in the European Court recently that sexual discrimination works both ways, so I think a women driver only/women customer only firm would be illegal. And I think female drivers would be at a greater risk, coming into repeated contact in close, confined proximity 40 + hours per week with unknown male fares then any given woman would be from any given male taxi driver.

I agree about the limitations of CRB checks and the pointlessness of them in general.

[AintMissBeehiving]

I would think that less than 50% have no form. I most often see dishonesty offences/fraud and violent offences - abh etc. I would suggest that most sexual or violent offenders do not leapfrog to a serious attack first time. They will have been often known to the police, perhaps for other matters, whether or not that has been resulted in a conviction.

The CRB system isn't great but at least with an enhanced check, you get a fuller picture - for example, a chap applied for a licence recently. Standard check showed 5 or 6 convictions for dishonesty and 1 for violence. Enhanced check showed that he had been arrested 5 times for trying to persuade young women/girls to undress and have photo taken and suggested that others "pay" for their cab ride home with sex. Examination of mobile phone revealed pictures of naked girls under 16. If the enhanced check had not been available we wouldn't have had access to that info and as the law stands at the moment, since he wasn't undertaking regulated activity (i.e contract involving children or vulnerable adults) at the time of the application.

[IvantaOuiOui]

We have the Pink Ladies where I live - they are wonderful but get a lot of aggro off other (male) taxi drivers. One chap has just opened a rival taxi firm with a similar name, pink cars, and male drivers I don't drive and I've been using Pink Ladies for years and am so glad we have them here.

[HerBeX]

God that shows you just how hostile some men are to anything that women do to help each other, doesn't it? They simply can't bear us to show any solidarity with each other. (It's one of the reasons so many MRA trolls come on to the feminist board - threatened by women banding together.)

[Kallista]

What does MRA mean?

[Saltatrix]

men's rights activists

[SueSylvesterforPM]

I'm not trying to be sexist (hope not to offend anyone iwth thread)

I had a similar experience to my cousin, one driver knew my age asken me if I had a bf, if I had a camera phone and do I make porns on them?? and hwats my number'coz' he'd like to get to know me' and reminded me he knew where I lived.

that was the 2nd time and never told anyone just told my mum i'm changing firms.

[Kallista]

How old are you now suesylvester? When i was mid teens it was buses or lifts, we had no money.
I know if i'd told my mum a man had come on to me at 15 - well, he would have got a kicking.
I wasn't allowed in taxis until a) i was working full time and b) proved i could look after myself.
I don't think 14 is old enough to be going out at night and doing activities which involve getting taxis anyway. All my friends and colleagues with daughters under 16 give them lifts and curfews!
The only girl i know who gets a taxi is a 15 yr old who has to travel 8 miles to school with a child.

[SueSylvesterforPM]

Kallista_ im 21

This was daytime after school to an appointment, my mum wouldnt have believed me because Im not good looking shes like that

[Kallista]

That's a shame :(. Your mum should always support you.

[TheSmallClanger]

I have never been in a really hairy situation in a cab, but plenty of times I've had to ask the driver to drop me down the road from where I actually live, after too many questions about exactly where I lived and where I usually went. One set my spidey sense off so hard that I deliberately took a circuitous route to my flat, and my barky Staffy terrier.

Almost all of the nasty, and potentially nasty, situations with men I've been in have been somewhere I should feel safe, as someone said upthread. Taxis home, busy train stations, work offices and more than once, a hospital waiting room. I don't like taking my DD to the doctors' or to our nearest shop either, because both seem to be hangouts for over-familiar down-and-outs to congregate.

[SueSylvesterforPM]

I also think it may be good ro another reason

like in culture where women don't have much freedom not allowed out on their own, women taxi drivers may help this

xoxo