CABBIES SEEK SAFETY TALKS WITH COPS

27-07-2009

Birmingham’s cabbies are seeking urgent talks with West Midlands Police following the stabbing of driver Mohammed Arshad in Hopwood last Wednesday. They claim racist attacks are commonplace and have considered going on strike.

Arshad, a father of three from Selly Oak, was found stabbed by the roadside close to Blues training ground at Wast Hills.

Waseem Zaffar, who speaks for the private hire branch of the Unite union, said, “My father was a private hire driver and there wasn’t a week went by when he wasn’t racially or verbally abused – and that’s still going on today.

“We want to open a wider debate with West Midlands police about private hire security.

“One of the problems drivers talk about is what happens when customers fall asleep because they are drunk. The moment we touch them, we are accused of sexual abuse.

“A lot of drivers are Muslim or from other ethnic minorities, and just to be suspected can destroy their reputation within the community.

“There’s also the issue of ‘dead jobs’ where customers run away without paying – there don’t seem to be procedures in place to deal with this.

“A lot of crime is not reported because of lack of confidence in the police.

“200-300 drivers wanted to take strike action, but we want to give the police the opportunity to respond.”

There are between 6-7,000 private hire drivers in Birmingham (as well as around 2,000 black cab drivers) and Waseem estimates that around 95% of these are from ethnic minorities.

He fears that the rise of the far-right in the recent Euro elections could be giving the green light to racists to abuse drivers, and warns that this must be tackled.

“The drivers go through a lot” he says.

“The older ones, especially, just shut up and take it, but the younger ones won’t stand for that.

“The trouble is that with the recession it’s seen as the easiest job to go out and get, but if you react to any provocation, there’s the fear that you’ll end up on the dole, so too many shut up and take it.”

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