TAXI

More readers than the rest put together! 26 JANUARY 2016 | TAXI 27
NEWS
Rickshaw crash safety fears Perverted Uber driver jailed
Mrs Houston: broken leg
London
A woman was left with a broken leg
after being thrown from a rickshaw
which was being driven dangerously
around London.
Jennifer Houston and her husband
Andrew, who live in Coventry, were
due to see Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory when they decided to take
what they thought would be a fun
ride in a pedicab.
The group, which included two
friends, were approached outside
Covent Garden Tube station by a
rickshaw driver.
Mr Houston, 53, said: “We thought
it might be fun to go round; all four of us
got in to go down the road and we were
enjoying the ride.
“But then he started weaving, turning
the wheel from side to side, and went
down a one way road,” Mr Houston
said. Disaster struck in Tavistock
Street.
He added: “I remember one minute
sitting there and the next minute we were
in the road.”
The front forks of the rickshaw
had completely buckled, causing the
vehicle to collapse.
Mrs Houston, 54, was taken to
University College Hospital, where
she was diagnosed with a broken
femur and had an operation to fit pins
and plates in her leg.
Mr Houston said the incident has
left him concerned about the safety of
rickshaws in the capital.
He said: “We are all probably lucky to
not have sustained greater injury.”
Cllr Melvyn Caplan, of
Westminster City Council, said: “It
is concerning to hear reports of a serious
injury to a rickshaw passenger. Rickshaw
drivers are completely unregulated
at present and that means that their
passengers are not protected by the
drivers having insurance for accidents.
“Westminster City Council has been
calling for proper regulation and the
licensing of rickshaws for years and will
continue to do so.”
Court
An Uber driver has been jailed after
a court found him guilty of sexually
assaulting a woman in his cab.
Samson Haile, from Brentford, was
sentenced to eight months in prison
on Wednesday, January 22.
The pervert picked up a 26-year-old
female passenger in Ladbroke Grove
on February 27 and started making
sleazy remarks to her.
The 32-year-old then went on say he
wanted to have sex with her.
The victim, fearing for her safety,
said she wanted to get out of the
vehicle, but Haile continued along
the road and began to touch her. She
managed to flee the car in Cromwell
Haile’s behaviour was “worrying”
Road before reporting her ordeal to
the police.
Detective Constable Carly Driscoll
said: “Of particular concern was the
rapid escalation in the behaviour of
Samson Haile. He went from talking
about sex to actually touching a lone,
vulnerable female in a very short space
of time.
“I would like to praise the victim for
having the confidence and courage to
report her ordeal to police.”
“I hope [the] sentencing gives her a
degree of closure and also displays the
professionalism and commitment of
officers within the Met to investigate
allegations of sexual crime.”
The Metropolitan Police said Haile
went on to pick up a group of people
including an off-duty female police
officer who was also subjected to
sexual comments and invited to
have sex.
An information report filed
by the officer helped lead to his
identification and arrest.
Haile was given a Sexual Harm
Prevention Order, banning him
from working as a private hire
driver in England and Wales. He
will also be on the sex offender
register for 10 years.
What the
public want
London is a buzz city — a rich cocktail of work and play.
It’s a city where people want to be. It’s vast and diverse
with great public transport — particularly its most
dynamic element: taxis!
The public has taken to booking apps like ducks to water
— and now it’s our job to get them to swim our way.
We have the Knowledge and now we must have
the Volume
TAXIS ON APPS (street hail + electronic hail = the future)
Customers want choice and
we need YOU, the driver
Please register your interest in Streets of London now at
www.streets-of-london.co.uk
Taxi 4 141mm x 226mm half page advert press.indd 1 19/01/2016 11:52