In-car CCTV to be fitted to Huddersfield taxis to stop violent attacks

Nov 4 2010 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TAXIS will be fitted with spy cameras in a bid to stop violent attacks on cabbies.

Kirklees Council has 120 in-car CCTV systems to give to drivers – and is offering to foot half the bill.

The scheme will cost £54,000 to implement, but comes after a spate of attacks on cabbies.

Clr Peter O’Neill, cabinet member for safer communities, said: “Similar schemes introduced elsewhere have shown an immediate and massive reduction in the number of crimes against taxi drivers and we hope these results will be seen in Kirklees.”

The system takes 15 seconds of images when a passenger enters and leaves the vehicle and can be set to record the journey if the driver feels threatened.

The information is saved and can be downloaded if required.

Passengers will be warned that CCTV is in operation by stickers in the vehicle.

It is hoped it will curb the kind of violence that claimed the life of Mohammad Parvaiz in July 2006.

The 41-year-old taxi driver died in a racist attack in Golcar.

Between November 1, 2008, and September 30, 2009, West Yorkshire Police recorded 425 incidents in which the victim was a taxi driver.

Sgt John McFadzean, of the Huddersfield town centre policing team, said the cameras should prevent crime.