IT’S 1. am on a cold Friday morning in November and I’m travelling away from the Zone nightclub in Redruth in a police car.
Thankfully, I’m sober and in the front, next to neighbourhood beat officer Mark Pearce.
In reaction to an increase in illegal taxi drivers, we are checking cars and chatting to club-goers.
“Illegal taxi drivers are something to be concerned about,” PC Pearce said, “as you don’t know anything about the vehicle or the person driving it. With licensed drivers you have the assurance that they’re accountable to their employers and the council.
“We’ve had no reports of anything happening to passengers, but there’s always the potential, and we want to nip it in the bud before anything does.”
A former retail manager, PC Pearce joined the police relatively late in his career and says this additional life experience has served him well – evident in the ease with which he chats to tipsy revellers and legal drivers about the risks of illegal taxis.
“We’re just looking out for the safety of the public,” he said. “We aren’t targeting people who offer to buy their friends a drink or pay for their club entry in exchange for driving – which, if you’re going by the letter of the law, is giving a lift for reward. We’re looking out for those out to make a profit from operating an illegal service and potentially putting the public at risk.”
After giving advice to drinkers we approach licensed drivers to ask if they know of anyone operating illegal firms. They say a red estate car and a Transit van often drop groups of people off in the Tesco car park and near the Co-operative on School Lane.
Despite hours of searching we don’t spot either vehicle, but PC Pearce is undeterred: “We’ll keep going with operations like this, especially in the run-up to the festive season – and we’ll find the people operating the illegal firms.
http://www.westbriton.co.uk/West-Briton-reporter-hunts-illegal-taxi-drivers/story-24561711-detail/story.html?#ixzz3JjpAnhJ7
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