50 Taxi drivers under Garda investigation — 'Some take advantage of women who are drunk'

By Ali Bracken, Crime Correspondent

GARDAÍ have drawn up a dossier on 50 taxi drivers following a surge in complaints and claims of violent crimes such as rape.The file details accusations such as serious sexual attacks, drug-dealing and assaults on passengers.Many of the drivers are still working, and one person named in the dossier is said to be 'a dangerous sexual predator'.A senior source said: 'There has been a marked increase in complaints against taxi drivers and, worryingly,many of these are sexual crimes.'Some of these individuals attack women who are often drunk.'They [some drivers] have beenand some, obviously a minority, think it is OK to make advances at women and when they are not well received they attack them.I would urge all women to be careful getting into a taxi alone.'Of the 50 people named in the dossier, 11 have been charged and are before the courts. The rest aresuspected or involvement in crimes including gangland activities and Chinese triad disputes.Gardai are also trying to track down — with the help or online taxi services — drivers accused of sexuallyassaulting women.Of the 11 charged, one driver is awaiting trial on allegations of raping and sexually assaulting a number of female passengers.Another man, who is a foreign national, is on the run having been charged with raping a passenger.Several other drivers are under investigation for sexual assault and rape following complaints. Many of these have not yet been identified by gardai.Other taxi drivers in the dossier include a roan charged with assisting the escape of a prisoner.Another individual is before the courts over an alleged bit-and-run accident.One man has been charged with theft of money from several passengers, having allegedly obtained their PIN numbers at ATMs when they were with drawing cash, before stealing their cards.Another individual has been charged with drug dealing, having allegedly been found in possessionof a significant quantity or drugs.It is also claimed another driver was involved in the shooting or a woman. The victitm survived.Gardai also have 'anecdotal' evidence or several taxi drivers who deal drugs and make drop-offs tocustomers.The dossier also details how some taxi drivers are under investigation for serious organisedcrime.It also reveals howMost of the drivers in the dossier are working in the capital.Gardaí have the power to suspend a taxi driver's licence for three months if they are suspected of criminal activity.However. this can be appealed and can often be overturned unless someone is convinced.Generally, gardaí wait until a person is convicted of a crime before barring them from holding a Public Service Vehicle licence.In 2001, Dubliner Gerry Hutch known as 'The Monk', won a court battle to become a taxi driver.Hutch, then 38, was granted a taxi licence after gardai said he was now a tax-compliant citizen.Dublin District Court heard in 2001 how he applied for the taxi licence in 1999 and was interviewed by the then head or the Carriage office, Superintendent Liam Collins, in July of that year.Superintendent Collins said he was in possession or a report from the Criminal Assets Bureau and that he was aware of 'public dis-quiet' over Hutch being 'a notorious member of the criminal community.At the time, Hutch told the court he left school early, the only skill he had was driving, and that hewanted to work as a taxi-driver.'The only qualification I have is a full driving licence and I like driving,' he said.------------------A TAXI driver was last year convicted of sexually assaulting a woman as he was bringing her home from a pub.Augustin lon, then 49, groped the woman and held her head back against the car seat outsideher house, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.He had claimed she had complained to gardaí only because she thought he was going to report her for not paying him.EJIIs Brennan, prosecuting, told the jury this was a 'tissue of lies'.Jurors took just under three hours to convict hlm fast December. He was Jailed for six months In January.He was registered as a sex offender and the court heard that he will never be granted another taxi licence.Lon, of Tallaght in west Dublin, denied sexually assaulting the woman in November 2014.------------------We must be able to trust our taxi driversWHILE the transport authorities have been assiduous about maintaining stringent standards of road worthiness for taxi vehicles, it seems they have been rather more hands-off about the calibre of drivers.An alarming report in today's paper shows that as many as 50 taxi drivers are under investigation for a range of serious crimes including rape and violent assault as well as gangland activity.Eleven of the 50 drivers have been actually charged with a crime, with one man described as a 'dangerous sexual predator' in custody awaiting trial for raping and sexually assaulting a number of female passengers.Another man, a foreign national, is currently on the run, having being charged with raping a passenger.The presumption of innocence is guaranteed to anyone who is accused of a crime, but it must also be pointed out that taxi driving, by its very nature, is an uncommonly solitary business that calls for a considerable level of customer trust and confidence.A man or woman who climbs into a taxi, particularly late at night, takes a leap of faith about their safety and is in a vulnerable position.Even the faintest fear that taxi drivers are not above suspicion, particulatly in areas of violence, sexual or otherwise, could jeopardise that delicate balanceand spell the decline of an industry only now recovering from the recession.For that reason it behoves the authorities to introduce some mechanism whereby drivers who are accused of violent or sexual crimes are immediately suspended until their names are cleared of wrongdoing.This might seem like a high price for a wrongly accused driver to pay but as the cost of turning a blind eye is to risk the safety of customers, while perhaps causing confidence in the taxi industry to crash, there is no other option.------------------Full size: https://i.imgur.com/tsdaB1S.jpg