Telford taxi drivers drawing up passenger blacklist

More than 500 private hire drivers across Telford are drawing up a "blacklist" of troublemakers who will be banned from using any cab firm in the town, it was revealed today.

Bosses from Telford and Wrekin's four main private hire operators – Diamond Cars, Central Taxis, County Cars and Ultimate Taxis – said drivers were sick of being verbally and physically assaulted by passengers.

Graham Hoof, from Central Taxis, said staff at each of the company's call centres were also getting threatened by irate passengers.

Nigel Horler, from Diamond Cars, said people were running off without paying their fares and some were even fighting one another in the backs of cabs.

The four operators, who all form Telford Private Hire Operators Association, will be drawing up a "blacklist" of people who will be banned from using any of their services.

Mr Hoof said: "They abuse the cars by kicking them when they get out or ripping the interior and drivers have been attacked in the cars and the office.

"The staff in the office even get threats over the phone. This mainly happens at night times at the weekend.

"Our drivers' safety is paramount to us. We don't want any driver abused or attacked. There are a lot of loyal and good customers out there that are very good and we enjoy taking them places, but the people causing the abuse are creating a problem."

Mr Horler said anyone who was abusive in cabs across Telford would soon be banned from using the services altogether.

He said: "I have had passengers fighting themselves in the cars and I have had a driver attacked with the CCTV in the car. We are just not prepared to accept the abuse any more.

"Staff are being abused and we want to send a message to the public that the drivers are out there working really hard. As an association, we don't want to pick people up who cause trouble.

"We don't want them abusing our drivers when they are providing a really good service to get them home. If one of my drivers gets attacked by someone, I will inform the other operators to put that person on the black list."

Ali Alyas, from County Cars, said the biggest problem was people running off without paying.

By Jason Lavan