About Us

"We want to make taxis safer for us all"

We want the current law to change so that drivers with criminal convictions of a sexual or aggresive behaviour are not eligable for a taxi licence.

The Taxi is a very valuable mode of transport for anyone travelling alone. However an increase in crimes from bogus (and licensed) taxi drivers has led to many women feeling intimidated when using a cab.

The Hail Safer Campaign was set up by Sarah Coates after she was attacked by a driver in 2004 while studying at Nottingham Trent University. Sarah had been visiting friends when she hailed a ‘Black Hackney cab’ to take her back to her Halls of Residence. She had not been drinking.

After she waved goodbye to friends the Asian taxi driver locked her in the back and began verbally and racially abusing her as he drove. Fearing for her safety Sarah tried to calm the driver down while sending secret text messages to a friend to alert them to her situation and location.

The ordeal lasted for several minutes and even after she escaped the driver chased Sarah all the way to her Halls of Residence.
Although concerned about possible repercussions, Sarah reported the incident to police the next day and was shocked to discover that the fully licensed driver not only had a criminal record but had been reported to police four times for similar attacks on other women. In each of the previous cases the victim dropped the charges.

Like them, Sarah twice withdrew her statement against the driver because she feared for her personal safety but in 2006 she took him to court where he pleaded guilty to racial and aggressive behaviour with intent to do further harm.

“I had to bottle up all my fears that day. For selfish reasons I just wanted to run away and forget that this awful man had tried to jeopardise my safety. Then I realised how fortunate I was. I’d had a lucky escape and perhaps the woman that travelled in his Taxi next time would not be so lucky. I had to stop that!” Sarah Coates, 2006

Despite the driver’s admission, another loophole in taxi licensing regulations meant that he was back driving a taxi the very next day. Fortunately his appeal was quashed several weeks later and he no longer drives a taxi.

Sarah was horrified, firstly that a man with a criminal conviction for aggressive behaviour was legally allowed to work in such a trusted position in the first place and, secondly, that he was still allowed to continue despite four reports of attacks on women.
Researching the industry, Sarah found that there are simple changes that could be made to prevent this type of crime from becoming commonplace. It was then that she launched her campaign for taxi safety.

Since then Sarah has been in touch with Taxi Licensing Boards, MP’s & councillors, taxi drivers, police experts, the media, rape crisis centres and victims. All have lent their support to the campaign, giving her unique insight into the issue and the problems facing it.
Launching officially as ‘The Hail Safer Campaign’ on January 1st 2008 Sarah and her team will continue to work with leading experts in the field to improve taxi safety throughout the UK.