Assaults, racial abuse and a kidnap are just some of the crimes the taxi service has been subjected to across North Wales.
Over two and half years, police were called to 140 incidents across the region which also saw cabbies and officers attacked as they tried to do their jobs.
The Figures were revealed under a Freedom of Information request which showed 45 people were charged or cautioned for criminal offences.
Wrexham had by far the largest number of incidents, disrupting taxi work over the period, with 56 recorded from the beginning of January 2013 through to June this year.
Conwy was second with 30, Denbighshire had 21 incidents, Flintshire 16, Gwynedd 11 andAnglesey had just six.
The figures revealed crimes involving violence or public order offences “where the persons occupation was recorded as 'taxi Driver', or where the summary of the occurrence contain the word 'taxi',” the FOI response said.
The bulk were for common assault with 59 crimes reported and assault occasioning bodily harm accounting for 41.
Other offences reported also included assault by beating, assaulting a constable, harassment, racial or religiously aggravated assaults, using threatening behaviour or abusive words, wounding and breaching an anti-social behaviour order.
In total 45 people were charged or cautioned over offences across the region.
According to the FOI information, in other cases the suspect could not be found or identified, with victims sometimes declining to follow through the case.
During three incidents, involving threatening or abusive behaviour, a fixed penalty notice was issued.
Chairman of the Licensed Private Hire Car Association, Steve Wright, said crimes against taxi drivers were a persistent problem across the country.
He said: “There appears to be more crimes against taxi drivers outside of London than in.
“But there have been drivers killed. In the last 20 years there have been more taxi drivers killed than the 7/7 bombings.
“Drivers are sometimes working late at night, carrying cash and maybe taking people who are on drugs or drunk, which is definitely a factor, which can lead to problems.
“We look at conflict avoidance techniques for our drivers and train our telephone staff to try and spot possible problem customers.
“Sometimes if there are people under the influence of alcohol, the driver has to make a judgement call.”
In August this year Steven Glyn Lewis, of Heol Hyfryd in Gwersyllt near Wrexham, was jailed for six months after he racially abused and punched a taxi driver and drove off in the vicitm’s cab.
And in May 2014 Martin Roberts, of Hampden Way, Acrefair, Wrexham, was jailed for four years after he was convicted of punching a taxi driver, stealing his sat nav and attempting to rob him of his mobile phone.
Sentencing Roberts at the time Judge Niclas Parry, told him that taxi drivers were vulnerable, easy targets.
see story at - http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/north-wales-taxi-drivers-assault-10520560
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