Source:BBC News
A Tyneside teenager is recovering after being sexually assaulted in the back of a taxi on her way home from a club.
Northumbria Police say the 17-year-old had been to Newcastle’s Powerhouse with a friend and had taken a taxi from a nearby rank early on Sunday.
The attack happened in the Dukesway area of Gateshead’s Team Valley, where the teenager was left by the roadside.
Police said they were looking for the driver of the black taxi, who is aged about 30 and had a dark complexion.
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
How many attacks do there have to be before “Public Protection Officers” i.e. enforcement start listening to us. ‘Power House’ a well known spot for ‘out of town hacks’ to sit. We tell them time and time again where to catch these flimpers. It could well be a Newcastle licenced hack but I’ll lay odds it was a bogus driver. Truth be known there are too many taxis and enforcement and police cannot keep an eye on them all. It’s a sex attackers paradise and it’s not good for the public or legit taxis!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
I read with interest the Mayor of Poland’s competition regarding the number of expired Berwick plates. Although this is humorous on the face of it many people will now regard this as an issue worth closer inspection in the light of recent events.
We all know which office employs the majority of the drivers with ‘out of town’ plates, with the rest being dispersed among the remainder of the Newcastle and North Tyneside firms. It is common knowledge that there are still a huge number of these cars trawling the streets at night supposedly on their way to their ‘booking’.
The major issue here is that while we all know that only a very few of these cars are picking up a genuine booked fare, a much larger number are approaching the EXPIRY DATES of their out of town plates.
What we would like to know, is, WHO is responsible for removing that car once the plate has expired and WHO checks that it is not still being used as a taxi?
When the Berwick council was still operating it was hard enough at that time to get either Newcastle or Berwick licensing to agree on who would take responsibility for the proper enforcement of all these extra cars on our streets.
It is not clear now whether the Operators themselves have a responsibility to ensure that every driver that they employ with an out of town plate is complying with the licensing conditions and that each plate is still valid.
We all look forward to the day when every single Berwick plate has finally expired so that along with Tynedale and all the rest, these drivers will eventually toe the line.
It is only right that they should be made to sit a locality test, provide all the necessary documentation and undergo an enhanced CRB check.
The council must honour its duty of care to the public and an honest demonstration of this would be to employ a greater number of enforcement officers and police the huge number of Hackney and Private Hire taxis around the clock as this is now an urgent requirement.
The taxi drivers (and members of the public) themselves can still bring a private prosecution against the council if they persistently fail to take full and proper responsibility for the mess they have created in this city.
Lady Eleanor.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Lady Eleanor, Can anyone tell me just how Berwick council who issued the plates to the drivers (many of them by postal application) still have these taxis on the road AFTER the council has ceased to exist?
WHO got the revenue for these plates and if they accepted the revenue surely they accepted the responsibility to enforce the law, but how can they do that now they no longer exist?
Looking at the whole thing logically, Berwick Council could only supply these licences up to the date that it ceased to exist which I believe was 1st April 2009.
So would it be right to argue that there should be NO Berwick plates on any taxi after 2nd April 2010 as the taxis are plated for one year only?
Does anyone know what is going on here?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Legal Eagle, In answer to your question Legal Eagle,
All of the Berwick Plates have now EXPIRED but they are being allowed to work, supposedly while their applications to Northumberland council or elsewhere, are being considered.
I know that many legitimate taxi drivers will find this an absolute outrage given that in the Taxi Licensing Newsletter of December 2009, the council threatened to take back the licenses of any Hackney carriage driver who did not renew their license by the time of its expiry. In addition to this, they are also saying that an expired license may also render the drivers insurance invalid as well.
Maybe it is the case that ALL of the now EXPIRED Berwick plated cars are currently exempt from these conditions that are imposed on the legitimate Newcastle Hackney Carriage Drivers.
My advice to the public at this time is to be extremely careful in their choice of taxi and only use a properly licensed Newcastle upon-Tyne Hackney carriage or Private Hire vehicle.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Lady Eleanor, had a LA driver in my car last night (BH MON)bragging how he takes more on a weekend flimping than he does all week from the office and seems to think he will never be caught just pulls to the front of the rank and takes anyone he was a bandit but has now got a ncle ph plate and was complaining that since he swapped to the right plate he insurance has doubled
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
ref berwick council ceased two exist how still blue line test car renew plates four berwick who get revnue four that
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
whilst these berwick plates have expired is the driver still able to change his vehicle? if so does that not mean the reg details on the plate ect ect will have to be changed or as the case is with most plates being expired the details are not changed at all ? just a thought because i see loads of different (new plated )cars working for blueline ect
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
It has now been pointed out that Berwick council ceased to exist from April 1st 2009 and therefore, by definition, all Hackney plates issued from that period are now well and truly expired.
How much ‘grace’ are we all going to allow before someone comes clean about what is going on here. Northumberland council would have been aware of the issue well in advance that they would be responsible for some of the renewals due to take place after the abolition of Berwick council.
Surely they would have sent out application renewal forms in good time to ensure a smooth transition following the change over. There is no legitimate excuse for such a disproportionate number of drivers to be working offices using these expired plates. I would seriously question the legality of this especially since the whole matter has been a closely guarded secret up until now.
We would like some answers please.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
just looks like it is a huge loophole ,and they fully intend to exploit it to the max .
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@hacking jacket, Jackoff hacker, was that what you meant to say,yeah it’s a loophole and yeah we’ll exploit it that,s what loopholes are you idiot
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Flimping Blazer,Forgive but i may be missing the point here,what does your comment actually mean? i looks like your just confirming what i originally posted .
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
just shows the scum that is BLT management and owners
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
coming here and calling people names is fruitless, pick up the phone , ring the number and ask! You will more than likely get an answer, wether you like the answer or not is another thing but the name calling thing won’t give you any answers at all.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Admin, I phoned that 0845 number on your home page and was then given a different number to ring and discovered that the licensing department at Berwick is still open.
After ringing the number all day I never got any further than the answer machine which informed me that Helen Wilson was not in but to leave a message and she would get back. (David must have been desperate to get back in by any means possible!)
This is exactly what they did during the last fiasco when they tried to bury the problem and now they have to face it all over again. I hope this time the law comes down hard on them.
There isn’t a single licensing officer in that department that has a full set.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Admin, and it keeps sensible people away from the site !!!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@ian shanks, That’ll be why you just posted then.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
just saying it how it is FACT
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
if its just a case of ringing the number why has the admin of this site not done so? then put post the reply on this site , just so this issue can be put to bed .
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@hacking jacket, I don’t need to ring mate. If you care to read the posts on this site you will find the answers. CLUE! http://www.toomanytaxis.com/2010/01/29/northumberland-consultation-on-draft-policy/
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Admin, im not your mate ! and if you bothered to tell people about the link insted of ringing the number put that up in the first place instead of being a smart arse there would be no need for all these posts .
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@hacking jacket, Hey “Not my mate” I’m not here to lead you by the hand cos maybe you can’t navigate this site, been called worse than Smart Arse aswell.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Admin, but as “ADMIN” of the site do you not think you could be a little more helpfull (it costs nothing you know ) and when did I or anyone who visits this site ask to be led by the hand by you ?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage TradeHi hacking jacket
This site is informative, Admin takes time to find articles and news that may help us in our role or make us aware of any changes!
On the BBC Website “the Tyne section”, the changes at the Airport were at the bottom of the page after the Weather!, top of the page was a Drug bust and the Toon back up into the Premiership.
I think the changes were about paying a pound when we drop off there from the 26th April 2010.
We may bicker, but if you want anything in the Classifieds it’s amazing how many people offer to assist, regardless of there License!
I got three solid responses about a request to buy a Wheelchair Hack in 10 days, one from Admin himself, sadly I could’nt take them offers up due to unforeseen personal problems, but it just shows that this site is generally helpful!
This site ain’t dead, the problem is the Hierachy of a certain Taxi Office no longer frequent here!..only joking!!!!!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Stephen Arthur,i think i know the office you mention but im sure thet look in at the site on a regular basis .
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage TradeI took the trouble of driving around the town last night with an independent witness in my cab.
I wanted to show this person first hand how the livelihoods of all the Newcastle Hackney drivers are being stolen from under them, not just through flimpers, but by pirates who are blatantly operating unchallenged using expired plates and working for private hire offices which are licensed by Newcastle City Council and North Tyneside Council.
My witness was totally unprepared for the scale of illegal activity taking place and some of it done in full view of the police. All it took to put the fear of God into these pirates was to pull up behind them in a black cab and all of a sudden they would pull off without their ‘booking’.
Some of them would drive around in a circle and then try and park back in the same place only to be met with the same black cab still waiting for them. We just followed some of the others who would drive all over the town in a blind panic. One of them even turfed his passengers out when he realised he was being filmed and he nearly blew his engine up to get away.
We recorded this all over the town for one hour in all the usual places including Mosely Street, Clayton Street and Market Street. Grainger Street, John Dobson Street and St. Mary’s Place, etc. My witness was not at all surprised which office employed most of these Berwick plated cars.
If our enforcement officers had been out in mobile units that night they would have definitely earned their wages and halved the number of drivers of one of the biggest private hire firms in North Tyneside.
Just imagine how much they could clean up on a Friday and Saturday night if they were motivated.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@hacking jacket,
This site was my hobby, it’s not my site anymore I just administrate it. The site makes no money as such so it is basically just here for you and others to come and say your piece and provide taxi related information. If you don’t come then you don’t come,makes no odds.There has been little or nothing to talk about for the last few months and when this topic dies down it may go quiet again but that’s not a problem is it? I don’t want you or anyone else to worry about the site stats, I don’t. My point about leading you by the hand was a bit harsh but at the end of the day everything that is current about the Berwick issue has been posted here. At the bottom of each post there are links with the title “possibly related posts” So when you say I should have posted links for you…I already did but you didn’t find them did you? I’m not your enemy, I’m just the messenger. There used to be people who would post useful and intelligent information here,they don’t come anymore for various reasons, one being the Taxi trades’ knack of bad mouthing everyone & everybody who might say something remotely useful.I’m old enough to remember the Taxi trade when it was good and today it is not good.Taxi drivers havn’t changed since those days but the numbers of us have and there are now so many different types of Taxis that the public is so confused they will flag anything with wheels and a phone number on it and that is not good. This thread is about a young girl who was sexually assaulted by a “taxi driver” And almost everyone who visits this site is a “taxi driver” so we should be concerned about this. So much so that we learn as much as we can about the root causes and try to do something about it. You came here and had a pop at me and bit when I called you ‘mate’ so what do you think you can do to move towards a better taxi trade where young women might be safer when they take a taxi. I’m sorry if I didn’t post everything in just the way that you would like but I don’t get paid for this you know it’s just my way of hopefully putting information up here that may help.If I get it wrong I get it wrong. It’s not like you can sack me and I won’t lose any sleep if no one visits the site for the next six months but the hits have remained at around 600 per day for the last 12 months so just because there are no comments doesn’t mean anything does it? The site isn’t only about taxi drivers slagging each other off, it gets regular visits from taxi licensing officers from both Newcastle & North tyneside and recently South Tyneside. It offers free advertising for taxi drivers, there are links to useful information such as court cases,roadworks and other taxi related sites. So you see the comments/slagging system is only a small part of the whole thing.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
point taken admin
no worries. thanks.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
hello everybody peeples wot been happening meester shank i wuury about heem. They tell me. he got asbo round his ancle i tell them i shop at asbo they not give me one. No no they said it cos meester shank he very norty man he let beerwick driver work when plate expire. I say no not meester shank he outstanding pillock of the community, he not do that.he got plenty monies he not need do that he everybodys frend.
We all keep eye on meester shank so he not end up like that meester wulson, he very bad man we not give him too ponds for very bad advice it not even worth too pents. we no better we tell meester wulson he very bad impluence on meester shank meester shank not reely greedy man it all meester wulson folt. We no meester shank take away beerwick plate when expire he play the wite man.
Sietnav come back nex week he make every things all rite peeples.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Sietnav Eisnogud, What is the point of a post like this on this site? The first post of two that you did were mildly funny but now your just as dull as dish water. Grow up mate.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Private hire driver NCLE, I don’t agree with you mate! There are many important and relevant points in Sietnav’s comments but wrapped up in a sense of humour, much as Charlie Chaplin did with The Great Dictator.
I wonder why you think you need to illustrate your comment with Goofy if you are so grown up!
Maybe it’s just sour grapes because your Berwick plate’s expired?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
teach that driver to spell ,
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
In reference to the original article, the person accused of this crime has allegedly committed 6 other sexual assults and is a ph driver lisenced with Gateshead council, I am not 100% sure but i have been led to believe he has been found guilty of this attack.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@hacking jacket, maybe just maybe your glad all these comments about the expired berwick plates ar being posted .afterall there has benn very little activity on this site since christmas.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
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