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London rickshaw drivers' links to the sex trade were exposed today, as hundreds of businesses called for an urgent crackdown on their "wild west" actions.

A new investigation has revealed that drivers of pedicabs - also known as rickshaws - are being paid tips by prostitutes for taking passengers to brothels for sex.

The practice was exposed by an undercover filmmaker who was asked by two male customers to take them to a brothel in Soho while he posed as a rickshaw driver for ten days during the summer.

After the passengers emerged, having each paid £50 for sex, the driver is seen being handed a £10 note for bringing in the business by one of the prostitutes who said: ”That’s what you get babe.”

The filmmaker, who does not want to be identified because he is concerned about reprisals from the rickshaw drivers, said it was common for “backhanders” to be paid for riders who brought punters to strip clubs, bars and brothels.

The seven minute film, commissioned by a group of businesses including the Hippodrome, also shows:

A driver bragging about charging three Chinese tourists £350 each for a 35 minute ride. Another told of how “the Latvian guys” would charge £200 to £300 just to drive from Oxford Circus to Piccadilly.

How drunks and foreign visitors are targeted because they are least likely to agree a price in advance. One driver says: ”If they are English they do not pay so much, if they are tourists they will pay.”

An illegal immigrant rider from Morroco who boasted that he had been released by police after he told them a false story that he would be killed if he was deported because he came from the Amazighen minority ethnic group.

The bosses of department stores Liberty and Fortnum & Mason, the five star Ritz Hotel, the Delfont Mackintosh theatre chain and Hippodrome Casino are among signatories to a letter to the Standard published today calling for tough new rules on pedicabs.

They want to speed up plans for legislation that would allow London transport chiefs to start tough regulation of the estimated 1500 often uninsured pedicabs plying for trade on the streets of central London.

The letter said: “We firmly believe pedicabs harm London’s international reputation and need to be regulated without further delay.”

The film-maker hired his rickshaw in an underground garage for £100 down payment and £60 a week rent. He filmed the footage with a Go-Pro camera strapped to his chest.

He told the Standard: ”Not all pedicab drivers are bad, there are lots of very responsible ones but there are some rotten apples.

“Many of the drivers said they want regulation because that would bring a measure of control and allow people to have some safe fun but without that it is human nature for things to go a bit haywire.”

An anomaly in the law means that pedicabs are classified as unlicensed “stage carriages” rather than licensed “hackney carriages” under Section 4 of the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869.

This makes it hard for Transport for London or the Metropolitan Police to control their fares, enforce safety standards or require drivers to take out insurance.

Transport minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon has said in a letter to the Regulate Pedicabs Coalition that his officials are working on introducing legislation “in the next year.”

But the business leaders, who include heads of groups such as Heart of London Business Alliance, the London Chinatown Chinese Association, and the Leicester Square Association, said the timetable is too long.

The letter says: “If the Government takes a year to table clauses in Parliament, it could be two years or longer before licenses are introduced. That is two years in which more passengers’ lives would be at risk.

“Now that a consensus exists on pedicabs, we urge the government to bring forward legislation to this autumn.”

Simon Thomas, owner of the Hippodrome casino on Leicester Square, said: ”It is only a matter of time before someone is killed by being thrown out of a rickshaw into the path of something heavier.”

A spokesman for Transport for London backed the calls for swift legislation.

In its Taxi and Private Hire Action Plan published earlier this year it said: “In the meantime, we will continue to work with Members of Parliament and the London Borough of Westminster to run operations to tackle dangerous and antisocial behaviour from pedicab drivers.”

Melvyn Caplan, Westminster City Council’s Cabinet Member for City Management, said: “Unscrupulous pedicab drivers are turning the West End into a modern Wild West, with rip-off prices and unsafe vehicles.

“We welcome the announcement of robust regulation from the government, which we at Westminster City Council have long supported as the only real solution to the problem.”

London's big firms call for 'urgent' crackdown

We write on behalf of over 1000 businesses in Central London and have come together to ask the Government to think again about its planned timescale to address the issue of unregulated pedicabs/rickshaws operating throughout London.

We firmly believe pedicabs harm London’s international reputation and need to be regulated without further delay.

The Government’s commitment to change the law on pedicabs is welcome, but it needs implementing now. These unregulated rickshaws directly affect organisations and businesses in Central London and are a growing problem.

At present, pedicabs have no specific safety requirements. Injuries to passengers are increasing while drivers often behave aggressively. They are also free to charge tourists rip-off prices.

These rickshaws also block our streets, slow other vehicles down, increase pollution, as well as disrupt legitimate businesses by parking in their doorways and on pavements.

As the Transport Secretary acknowledges, it is an anomaly that pedicabs fall outside TfL’s licensing remit, with no checks on drivers or vehicles, nor any need for insurance, or any regulated pricing for passengers.

We are pleased that the government wants to give TfL new powers, allowing the Mayor of London to force unsafe or rip-off rickshaws off the road.

However, we are concerned that this will take too long to implement. If the Government takes a year to table clauses in Parliament, it could be two years or longer before licenses are introduced. That is two years in which more passengers’ lives would be at risk.

Now that a consensus exists on pedicabs, we urge the government to bring forward legislation to this autumn.

Signed:

Andy Wood, Business Crime Reduction Manager, Safer WestEnd

Ciaran Fahy, Chief Executive, The Ritz Hotel

Colin Bennett, Chairman, Leicester Square Association

CT Tang and Christine Yau, President and Vice-President, London Chinatown Chinese Association

Ed Burstell, Managing Director, Liberty Retail

Ewan Venters, CEO, Fortnum and Mason

Liz Potts, Trust Secretary, Covent Garden Area Trust

Reverend Simon Buckley, St Anne’s Church

Sarah Porter, CEO, Heart of London Business Alliance

Simon Thomas, CEO, The Hippodrome Casino

William Differ, Operations Officer, Delfont Mackintosh Theatres