Cab protest over driver safety fears; PETITION: Anger at order to remove security grilles.Byline: Cara Simpson IRATE taxi drivers massed outside Coventry rail station to voice fears over safety. Scores of city cabbies staged the gathering yesterday in opposition to a council order to remove their metal security grilles. The barriers separate the driver's seat from the back of the cab and are designed to protect cabbies from attacks. Last month, Coventry City Council sent letters to hackney Hackney, inner borough (1991 pop. 164,200) of Greater London, SE England, on the Lea River. Clothing manufacture (in Hackney) and printing and furniture making (in Shoreditch) are the borough's chief industries. London's first theater was built in Shoreditch (c.1575). carriage drivers warning that, "because of the potential danger to passengers, all grilles must be removed". It came after the grilles were tested by motor experts, who found them to be a danger if a passenger was not wearing a seat belt in an accident. Black cab drivers have been advised that the grilles must be removed by November 30. They can be replaced with a plastic screen, at a cost to cabbies of pounds 54, but taxi drivers claim the new screen will compromise safety. Kamran Khalid says he has the metal grille grille, in architecture, a system of bars, usually of decorative metalwork, forming an openwork barrier or enclosure. In its usual materials of wrought iron or bronze, it has been favored for decorative treatment in all periods. to thank after he escaped uninjured when a gang attempted to assault him in August. The 32-year-old from Foleshill had picked up three men who tried to set upon him as he drove them to Radford in the early hours. He said: "They were drinking inside my cab and, when I told them to stop, they started swearing at me and began to punch and kick at the grille. It was a really scary experience." He managed to drive them to Stoney Stanton Stoney Stanton is a village in the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England, with a population of about 3,500. It constitutes a civil parish. The village is on a rocky outcrop and was the site of a quarry, which was closed in 1958. Road police station where two of them ran away, but one was arrested after slashing slash·ing adj. 1. Bitingly critical or satiric: slashing wit. 2. Dashing; pelting: a slashing hailstorm. 3. a police officer in the hand. Mr Khalid added: "I'd hate to think what would have happened if I didn't have the grille to protect me." He was backed up by other drivers who have faced violence. They include Ken Roberts, of Eastern Green, who suffered an attempted stabbing stab v. stabbed, stab·bing, stabs v.tr. 1. To pierce or wound with or as if with a pointed weapon. 2. To plunge (a pointed weapon or instrument) into something. 3. while driving a passenger in his cab three years ago. The 65-year-old said: "I remember hearing the chink of steel against my cab and seeing the knife's reflection as he tried to stab me in the neck. Luckily I grabbed his arm and he dropped it. "He ran away after that and I know that if it wasn't for the grille I wouldn't be standing here today." Mr Roberts added: "The council keeps going on about our passengers' human rights but don't consider our safety." More than 100 taxi drivers have signed a petition against the order to remove the metal security grilles. Alias Yousef, chairman of the Coventry Taxi Association, said members will go on strike if necessary. CAPTION(S): signed by more than 100 Coventry cabbies. |
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