TAXI drivers in Essex are being urged to be on their guard against being tricked into taking part in a telephone fraud against elderly and vulnerable people.
Thieves posing as police officers or bank officials have tried on 463 occasions since January to trick their victims into revealing their bank account details or to hand over bank cards or large sums of cash.
Seventy-eight people have fallen for the scam since the start of the year and a total of £274,368 has been stolen.
In many of the incidents where cards or cash were collected the thieves booked taxis to take "couriers” to and from the home of victims.
More recently taxi drivers have been used, instead of couriers, to pick up cash or cards.
On Saturday November 16 a taxi driver from Southend became suspicious when he was asked to collect a package from an address in Rayleigh. When he discovered that the resident, an elderly man, had been asked to send £8,000 to a ‘detective chief inspector based in south London’ he called Essex Police and officers were sent to the scene. Enquiries are continuing.
DS Neil Hudson said: "The taxi driver was aware from recent warnings in the media that these crimes were increasing in Essex and we are grateful that he quickly realised that the elderly man would lose the money to unscrupulous thieves.
"We are now contacting all taxi licensing authorities to make taxi firms and their drivers aware that drivers can be tricked into taking part in these crimes.”
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Worcester
Worcester Taxi Drivers Association says it has no intention of agreeing to a walk out, despite calls last week from some in the trade. But Mohammed Ali, of the group, has attacked a three-month delay in creating a council policy for restricting numbers.
Last Wednesday, members of the city council’s licensing committee tried to suspend the issuing of new taxi driver licences after a survey showed there were too many in the city. But they were blocked by their own officers due to legal concerns.
The council’s officers also said the independent survey, paid for by the taxi trade, was done before University of Worcester students arrived in September, missing out 10,000 potential customers.
The association says it was done during freshers week, exactly when all the students had arrived in the city. Mr Ali said: “There will certainly not be any strikes. It has not been mentioned within the association at all, so it won’t be happening. We have called for a long time for a cap on numbers and we want to see it happen.”
Taxi driver Mohammed Sajad called for a strike last week, saying there is “nothing else left for drivers to do” following the committee meeting.
The committee wanted to either cap or restrict numbers, but was told by officers that the council needed to draw up a firm policy first and then consult the public over it.
The next meeting is scheduled in February, and by then the council hopes to have it in place.
As your Worcester News revealed on Friday, any hackney carriage drivers now need to buy a new vehicle, costing at least £17,000. This is aimed at discouraging any drivers from joining the trade.
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Blackpool, Tram driver go's off the rails.
Reece Gilligan had been out celebrating passing an exam and getting a job.
Gilligan, a 23-year-old tram driver, of Walpole Avenue, South Shore, pleaded guilty to causing damage.
He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £345 compensation with £85 costs plus £15 victims’ surcharge by Blackpool magistrates.
Pam Smith, prosecuting, said the incident happened on August 2 at around 11pm when cab driver picked up Gilligan and a woman.
When the cab stopped at a red light Gilligan had what the driver described as a tantrum.
Howard Green, defending, said his client, who had no previous convictions, had been out celebrating and had drunk more than he should have. He acted in a moment of madness.
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Dublin, driver shot in both legs.
Taxi driver shot in both legs after row with passengers
Gardai are hunting for two suspects following a confrontation in a Finglas housing estate.
The incident happened at Dunsoughly Drive in Finglas, north Dublin, at around 8.30pm last night.
The driver, named locally as James Boylan, had earlier collected his passengers and was asked to drive them to west Dublin.
After he stopped his car in a housing estate off Ratoath Road, in Finglas West, a row broke out between the 59-year-old driver and the passengers.
The victim later told gardai that the men then jumped out of his taxi, produced a gun and shot him in both legs before making their escape across the estate.
It is understood that the assailants were armed with a handgun. Gardai said that they were following a number of lines of inquiry.
The meter was still running on the black Toyota Avensis taxi as gardai began inquiries at the scene of the shooting last night.
Locals in Montpelier Park, where Mr Boylan lives with his wife and and two children, were shocked at the shooting.
One man who knew the victim, said he was shot after he became "jumpy" and told the men to leave his car. "The driver was telling them to get out of the cab and that's when they shot him in the legs. It got out of control."
No arrests have been made and no description of the attackers was available.
The injured man was taken to James Connolly Memorial hospital in Blanchardstown.
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