A new survey has revealed the alarming dangers private hire drivers face while on the job, with many expressing fear for their safety due to violent attacks.
The GMB union’s poll of 400 drivers exposed a series of harrowing incidents, including drivers being threatened with knives and machetes, subjected to racial abuse, and having stones hurled at their vehicles.
The findings paint a disturbing picture of the risks these drivers encounter daily, with one respondent admitting to carrying a baseball bat for protection. Many drivers reported being too scared to work.
Looking specifically at the far-right riots that targeted ethnic minorities last year, a massive 85 per cent of GMB’s respondents said they believe similar events could happen this year.
One driver said it was ‘”heartbreaking to witness humanity at its worst”.
In July and August last year, dozens of far-right rallies took place across the UK over several days, with violence aimed at targets like immigration centres, lawyers’ offices and charities. Over 1000 people were arrested during and after the events, with hundreds injured.
The survey from GMB found that almost half (46 per cent) of their private hire drivers say they were impacted by the riots themselves.
GMB national officer Eamon O’Hearn, speaking at the union’s annual conference in Brighton, said: “These terrifying survey results show our private hire drivers were on the front line of last year’s riots, and a huge majority fear they may happen again this summer.”
One respondent said: “I passed by a mosque and had several people approach me with knives and machetes so I speeded up and did the quickest U-turn ever and got out of there.”
Another said a passenger in a van threw a cup of coffee in his car.
Another driver said: “I do not feel safe in the United Kingdom any more, I have started to carry my own baseball bats as I am in fear of having acid thrown at me.”
