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??

Kallista your original response to sue's post there seems to say that anything that happened was her mothers fault.You give an extensive list of things that she did "wrong" and thus if something happened it was the fault of teh mother for not adhering to your "list". What about the cab driver? You don't mention him at all, as being in any way responsible for any of it.

Your response to that may be "well that goes without saying" - and yes that's true - to a point. But in these things it is so often the case that the person who actually did the bad thing is written entirely out of the picture. As in your post. Reading it, it comes across that the blame lies entirely with Sue's mother (for not following your list) and with Sue (for not being able to "look after herself" whatever that means). I know that you probably didn't mean it like that, and I'm just looking at your post as it's the most recent, but this sort of approach and language is at the heart of victim blaming. I'm just trying to draw attention to it really.

Like the phrase "she was attacked" when really it should be "X attacked her" - bringing the "bad person" into the picture rather than painting them out and putting all teh focus on the victim IYSWIM.

I'm not trying to have a go I promise! I just find this language stuff so interesting - and once you notice how people (and yourself) talk and how the papers and TV reports things, it becomes obvious why victim blaming goes on such a lot. In many cases things sound as if the victim did it to themselves - the person who hurt them is entirely glossed over.

The "yourself" there was me, not you! I use this sort of language too but am trying to change it.

Hi,

I have just come across this discussion board that has some very good responses. I am the founder of Ladies A'Like Female Only Transport Service in High Wycombe an area that has is very much dominated by male taxi drivers.

I launched Ladies A'Like last year and have had a fantastic response from elederly females, mothers and young ladies who had lost peace of mind and assurance with the traditional taxi services being run in the region.

We have now close to 3800 female members who have joined Ladies A'Like with the service becoming a lifeline for some and a fantastic alternate method of transportation for others.

Currently we are looking for like minded females who would want to start a similar service for their own communities and if this is of interest to anyone please visit our website www.ladieslaike.co.uk or email [email protected].

Thank You

Hi,

I have been a long-time lurker on the Mumsnet forums but have felt too shy to join in. However LadiesALike, your post has changed all that. I live locally to you and I have noted your distinctive black and pink cars around High Wycombe. However it concerns me that these cars are not plated by Wycombe District Council as taxis and your drivers do not hold council-issued taxi driver badges. I note that you describe yourself as a "Female Only Transport Service" and not a "Taxi Service" and I assume that you do this as a way of not having to play by the same rules as the rest of our local taxi drivers and companies. However it concerns me that your members may think they are getting into cars that have undergone the same rigorous checks as all of the other taxis on our local roads and are being driven by people who have taken the tough tests and gone through the expensive, intrusive and time-consuming vetting process as the rest of our local taxi drivers. Personally, I would rather get in a taxi driven by a man, knowing that he has undergone checks and is driving a car that passes rigorous compliance tests regularly, that he has provided evidence to the council of having the correct insurance and that I can contact the council if I have a problem, than get in a car where I am offered none of the above protection. Every day we take risks in life and when undertaking many day-to-day activities we carry out mini risk-assessments (even if we are actually doing this subconsciously), and having assessed the risks involved in using a taxi service in High Wycombe, I would rather use a licensed and regulated one any day of the week.
Of course there are basic precautions that we can all take to ensure our safety when using taxis; always take a brief walk round the back of the car before getting in and note the numberplate and the plate number on the back of the car (ensuring that there is a plate and you are not about to get into an unlicenced mini-cab), if you have pre-booked the taxi then ensure that the driver knows who you are and where you are going without you having to tell him, let somebody else know when you are on your way home and what time you expect to be back, sit in the back as this gives you a sluight advantage if you need to get away, and keep your money easily available so that you don't have to scrabble about in an open bag at the other end to find it.
And... most importantly... if you ever have ANY sort of problem with a taxi driver.. please please PLEASE report it to the relevant people (council, police or both). Only by people doing this can we ensure that the few taxi drivers who are not just out and about trying to make an honest living by doing a tough job are removed from our roads.

Sits back and prepares to be flamed for being a bolshy cow on her first ever post.

Forgot to add SueSylvesterforPM, I don't think your idea is daft at all - as long as these companies are licensed like any other taxi company has to be. :)

I remember there was an all-female cab co near me when I lived in London. I used it quite regularly.

I used to work in licensing law and attend the Licensing Committee meeting every 3 months. Generally there would be between 1 and 3 taxi drivers up for a hearing for misconduct at each meeting. It was very very rare for any of them ever to be stripped of their licenses. I remember a couple of cases where the witnesses called before the Committee were very credible (primary school teacher on the way home was basically rubbished for being too drunk to know what she was saying, another very young woman it was suggested to that she had propositioned the taxi driver who then followed her into her home and been turned down, and that he was only looking out for her safety).

It really opened by eyes as to how old fashioned some of those in charge and who should know better think. It was also acknowledged informally that taxi driving attracted workers who were not necessarily little angels but were from ahem varied backgrounds in life.

But there are so few women taxi drivers, when there is very little reason why that should be so.

btw I am pretty certain you would not trangress the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 et al if you were a female massage worker who worked from home and did not wish to take on male clients.

What AintMissBehiving says is perfectly correct. When a licensed taxi driver was charged or convicted of an offence, he would be up in front of the Licensing Committee and invariably the result was that he would be allowed to continue unless it was very serious indeed. And even then there was the likliehood he would be allowed back. Its not unusual for taxi drivers to have a number of criminal convictions, certainly. I would even go so far as to say that its a job some people go into when they wouldn't be taken on anywhere else. That is not to say that they won't do a good job, or shouldn't be allowed a second chance in life, of course.

In a lot of towns and cities, taxi firms tend to control the market and its very difficult for rival firms to get licenses.

LadiesALike presumably your service is private hire cars and not taxis?

Cab firms are licensed by the local authority. You can get the badge numbers very easily so did your cousin report the driver she referred to?

I'm neither here nor there about women-only cabs, it's not a gender issue for me.

Hi Thanks for the response and you are very much correct in stating we are not working with the local authority and badged by them. Our local authority was the first to be contacted in our hope to gain support from them for such a valuable localised service but they felt taxi drivers in the area would go up in roar and this would cause problems for them, hence did not support the service.

Subsequently we were not left much option but to change our business model and are currently working under the framework from the Department of Transport providing this service for women in our community hence called "Female only transport service" rather then taxi company.

In Regards to your statement about rigorous checks you would be surprised to be enlightened that our local authority like many others only carries out one compliance test on a taxi vehicle each year and you quite regularly come across damaged vehicles being used as taxi's that are not reported to the local authority as they would then be forced of the road.

With working under the framework from The Department of Transport all our vehicles have to be checked by the company on a daily basis and along with this they are forced to have a routine 6 weekly check carried out by an approved local garage and we feel this system is much more rigorous then the current local authority checks on local taxi vehicles.

My personal view is that this checking system should be applied to all taxi vehicles and a routine check should be enforced every 6 weeks but also along with this the local authority should also have a system in place to pre vet the capabilities of each driver to be providing a service to the public that requires a great deal of communication, assurance and quality of service rather then the current approaches being applied by many taxi companies.

I hope this answers your questions.

Thanks
Ladies A'Like