Taxi CCTV: “It’s like having a witness in your car”

Wednesday 13 December 2017

A Jersey taxi driver is urging other drivers to get CCTV cameras in their cars, after he says he was seriously assaulted on one occasion, and accused of a sexual assault by a female passenger on another.

Paul Tostevin has posted his own experiences on the Jersey Taxi Driver Association facebook page outlining his experience of where his CCTV camera footage has proved to be “vital.”

Mr Tostevin wrote, “..a couple of serious incidents in my Taxi has left me in no doubt that all taxi drivers should seriously consider the consequences of not having CCTV fitted into the their vehicle."

"Personally the importance of having CCTV in my taxi has been confirmed to me on more than one occasion now, and each time I was really glad that I had a camera recording those incidents.”

Pictured: Paul Tostevin warned other drivers about the benefits of CCTV camera's in taxi on Facebook.

His comments have been supported by Jersey Police who said, "...anything that gives the police evidence of a crime can only be a good thing and if someone presents us with this type of evidence we will use it."

The footage from his CCTV camera – which he bought three years ago for £240 – was used to prosecute a man who attacked him when he got into the taxi after a night out.

“The police were able to confirm who my attacker was straight away after watching the recording and he was eventually caught and brought to justice. It must be said that without this CCTV evidence he probably would have got away with it, as the police would only have my description to go by which was hard to recall from memory as my attacker was sitting behind me at all time during the journey.”

Pictured: Paul Tostevin's CCTV camera is fitted on the inside of his windscreen.

More recently he says he was left "appalled and disgusted" after a female passenger accused him of abusing and punching her when he drove her back to the Weighbridge rank after she refused to pay him.

Speaking to Express, Mr Tostevin said, “..if I hadn’t had the CCTV footage (showing her making the false allegations) I could have been taken into the police station and questioned. I would have had to prove my innocence.”

After 26 years as a taxi driver he has experienced passengers refusing to pay, threaten to assault him and damage his vehicle. He says, “..most night drivers will have incidents with drunk passengers,  and it’s your word against theirs.”

“We’ve got to be very careful nowadays, especially if a drunk woman falls asleep on her own in the back of your taxi. You don’t want to wake them in case they accuse you of something.”

There’s one hundred and fifty taxi rank drivers in Jersey. He think’s only a handful of them have a CCTV camera installed as many are put off by the cost, but he says his has, “…paid for itself over and over again.”

He hopes no driver has to go through the attack he was subjected to a few years ago.

“It did put me of night shifts, but then I thought I was not going to let one incident ruin my life. Every time I picked someone up – especially if they were drunk – I was wary and on edge. It took me quite a while to get back into it.”

Mr Tostevin believes there would be more taxis available during the Christmas period, if they had the safety of video recordings. 

"It’s hardly surprising to hear then that some drivers simply refuse to work into the small hours, even on busy Friday and Saturday nights, despite the potential returns, in fear of the risks the driver might face. So that's why I say “YES” to getting a CCTV camera fitted and sooner rather later, especially now we are coming into what taxi drivers call the 'Silly season'."