Rogue taxi drivers terrify women

Many dodgy taxi operators have been weeded out, but some remain. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Dodgy cab drivers are still terrifying female passengers, despite massive efforts to clean up the industry.

Cases of women being physically attacked, spoken to inappropriately or sexually assaulted continue to occur across the country, although less frequently.

This week a jury at Wellington District Court found a taxi driver guilty of raping a teenage passenger at his home but not guilty of abducting the 18-year-old with intent to have sex.

John Doesburg, the New Zealand Transport Agency's national manager of commercial road transport, said "hundreds" of rogue drivers had been weeded out of the industry since the introduction of the taxi enforcement team in 2007 but cases of assault and rape still occurred.

"I want to say that it doesn't happen, but I know that there have been incidents in the past of terrible abuse, including some very serious sexual abuses and rapes," said Doesburg.

"It's totally unacceptable and it's the very thing we are trying to protect the public - especially women - from."

An Auckland woman, who declined to be named, said she felt "really scared" when a taxi driver last year drove her in the opposite direction she had requested, and refused to turn around.

He only changed directions when she pulled out her cellphone to call a friend.

"I was really scared because I kept asking him to turn back and go the other way but he just ignored me and sped up," she said.

"It was about 2am and there weren't a lot of people in the area we were driving in. I thought he was going to pull up somewhere and do something horrible."

Another 23-year-old said she hopped into a taxi in Auckland after a night out with friends, where the driver continually called her a "beautiful girl" and asked whether she was drunk. After dropping her home she received multiple phone calls from the driver, one time calling her saying, "I'm outside" before hanging up.

"I did not feel safe at all," she said.

Last year, an Auckland taxi driver was charged with indecent assault, abduction for sexual connection and assault with intent to commit sexual violation after he allegedly subjected a 24-year-old female lawyer to a sexual attack in the back of his taxi.

Another woman, Annette Brothers, said last June she felt "violated" after a taxi driver sent her a sleazy text message, saying: "It has always been my fantasy to be with a white woman. Please tell me you will be the one."

At the time Brothers said she felt violated, adding: "They are meant to be professional".

Earlier this year a Tauranga taxi driver was charged with indecent assault for allegedly molesting a 15-year-old girl, who he offered a free ride home.

The driver, who has interim name suppression, was granted leave by the Tauranga District Court to travel overseas to attend his son's wedding and is ordered to return later this month.

The taxi enforcement team compiles complaints from passengers in Auckland and Wellington and monitors complaints from other taxi drivers.

From 2007 to last year there were 140 complaints from passengers and other taxi drivers. The highest number related to unlicensed drivers, poor driving and overcharging. The number of complaints regarding violent or sexual attacks was not available.

New Zealand Taxi Federation head Tim Reddish said unfortunately violent assaults on women happened and were the "absolute worst thing" a taxi driver could do.

But he said such incidents were increasingly rare and taxi enforcement officers did a good job keeping dodgy drivers off the streets. "Hundreds of thousands of rides take place with no problems, and I would say women are undoubtedly safe," said Reddish.

Reddish urged women to note the driver's ID and the vehicle's registration number.

"There is definitely still a rogue element of drivers at the bottom of the ladder, but these are increasingly being weeded out," he said.