Four years after the Surrey Comet campaigned to get the capital's minicabs licensed, new figures from the Metropolitan Police reveal that 214 women were sexually assaulted in the last year after getting into illegal minicabs in London.

And although all minicab firms now have to be licensed, it will take a further two years for police to vet all their drivers.

The Comet Cab Check campaign was launched in 1998 after it was discovered that a minicab driver working in Surbiton had been imprisoned 22 years earlier for raping a Teddington mum in front of her children.

David Smith, from Hampton, was immediately sacked by Mogul Radio Cars. But Smith continued to work with local minicab firms and less than two years later was finally jailed for life for the brutal murder and mutilation of prostitute Amanda Walker, whose body was found in a shallow grave in Wisley.

His case illustrated the flaws in a system that allowed anyone to sit behind the wheel of a minicab without any kind of vetting.

The Government eventually introduced measures to license mini-cabs, and Mayor Ken Livingstone brought in the licensing system for London last year. All minicab operators now have to obtain a licence from the Public Carriage Office in order to operate legally.

But the threat posed by unlicensed and illegal operators, who tout for business on the street, remains.

The Know What You Are Getting Into campaign, jointly launched by the Mayor and the Metropolitan Police last week, is stressing safety, especially for women, and will include posters put up in clubs and pubs around the capital.

DAC Tim Godwin, head of territorial policing for the Metropolitan Police, said: "We are particularly concerned that there may be people purporting to be minicab drivers as a deliberate ploy to drive around central London at night to target victims and carry out sexual assaults.

"I would urge women to take the advice in the adverts. Know what you are getting into and don't take the risk of getting into a car belonging to a complete stranger."

In a catalogue of offences by rogue minicab drivers, a Surbiton woman was indecently assaulted in February after taking an unlicensed minicab home from a restaurant and in July a 33-year-old woman was raped in the back of a bogus minicab on Barnes Common. Neither culprit has been apprehended.

Only this week a Hendon man was found guilty on two counts of rape after posing as a minicab driver and picking up young women in the West End.

But according to Richard Sampson, owner of Mogul Radio Cars in Surbiton, despite all the warnings and attacks, Kingston's youngsters are still using illegal minicabs.

Mr Sampson, who has been involved in every step of the campaign to bring in licensing, said: "We find it virtually impossible picking up from nightclubs, they've just jumped into the wrong car. People just want to go home.

"People have to learn the questions to ask when getting in a cab, not are you a cab?' but what company are you from and who are you picking up?'"

Mr Sampson's experiences are borne out by Met Police figures. These show that in nearly 50 per cent of cases the victims are under 25, and in 91 per cent victims are under 36.

It is currently illegal for minicabs to pick up fares from the street and Mr Sampson believes the police should do more to clamp down on rogue operators.

He said the police do not act with more force at the moment because they want to get large groups of young people out of the town centre as quickly as possible.

In response, Chief Inspector Tim Pointer of Kingston Police said: "It's right to say that Kingston Police in the run up to Christmas will be cracking down on illegal minicabs, touts and disorderly behaviour in the town centre."

While the biggest problem is illegal minicabs, even licensed companies cannot yet guarantee complete safety. Although companies have to be licensed, drivers and vehicles are not currently subject to central checks.

Transport for London is introducing a licensing system for all minicabs and drivers but this could take two years before all police checks are completed. According to Mr Sampson, the impending system has discouraged more disreputable drivers from the legitimate business, but until the individual driver licensing is introduced there is not a great deal companies can do to vet employees.

Mogul requires all drivers to produce a copy of their police record, but that can take up to three months. "That's why I've been lobbying for it for so many years," said Mr Sampson.

For Kingston and Surbiton MP Ed Davey the progress made by Transport for London and the Government has not been quick enough. "While their new campaign is welcome, actually it's almost an admission of their failure to implement the legislation."

l Comet Comment See page 12.

sbrody@london.newsquest.co.uk

October 11, 2002 10:30