A Brampton woman says she was sexually harassed — subjected to a barrage of vulgar, explicit questions and threats — while riding in the back of a Beck Taxi.

Nicole Vance had just finished work and called a cab to her office on Adelaide Street. When it arrived she asked the driver to take her to Fort York, where she was going to meet her brother and then they were going to carry on to Brampton.

"It started off kind of like a normal conversation," she told CBC News, but then, she says, things shifted.

About five minutes into the ride the driver told Vance she should move to Toronto "so you can get a Toronto boyfriend and have some babies," she says. "He just started asking inappropriate questions, and sexual kind of questions." She tried not to engage but he kept on throughout the drive, according to Vance.

"I guess the most alarming thing was towards the end he said … 'I know where you live in Brampton, I know your house, I'm going to come to your house tomorrow and knock on your door. It's a good thing you live alone.'"

The whole incident, which lasted about 15 minutes, left her feeling shaken and vulnerable.

She says she considered recording it but "but I feared that if I did that and he noticed that it might escalate." She texted her brother the cab's number, but says there was no driver ID placard hanging on the back seat.

Vance wasn't sure anything could be done about it; she had limited information and Beck employs thousands of drivers. She called the company immediately to complain and posted about the experience on Facebook.

That caught the attention of the company's operations manager, Kristine Hubbard.

As soon as she saw the Facebook note Hubbard checked on the case internally and found that the driver and vehicle had both been suspended. She and Vance then spoke, and Hubbard says she told Vance that Beck would cooperate fully with police and with municipal licensing and standards (which regulates taxis), both of which are now investigating.

"As a woman myself — I have two young daughters — no one should be subject to that," Hubbard told CBC News.

Kristine Hubbard, the operations manager for Beck Taxi, says the company will cooperate fully with police and municipal licensing investigations. (CBC)

Hubbard also said each taxi is equipped with a camera that records all rides, with video made available exclusively to police.

Vance is happy the case is being taken seriously — which she wasn't convinced it would be when she started.

"What if it were 2 a.m. and I was drunk? What if it was an underage girl? … I'm sure I'm not the first person he's done this to, and I'm sure I won't be the last."