Police don’t care, says cab driver of break-in
ATAXI driver whose car was broken into at Hallowe’en has spoken out, criticising police for not taking such crimes seriously.
Kwik Cars driver Alex Cooper’s car was off duty on Southbank Road when a thief put a brick through his window and stole his change box.
The action has forced Mr Cooper to seek a way out of the industry following a spate of similar crimes.
Mr Cooper said: “I think there’s been a few done by the sounds of it. Hallowe’en it was.
“I’ve got CCTV. You can see a lad on a bike ride past, throws a brick through the window, rides off and then comes back a minute later and grabs the changebox out of the door.
“There might have been £20 in there in 10p and 20p coins, he was just an opportunist by the looks of it.
“I think he was anticipating the alarm going off so he sort of casually went past then came back.’’
Mr Cooper added: “I was just on the road down Southbank Road, and there was another driver done on Westcliffe Road, and another one done, but I don’t know where he lives.”
Mr Cooper added that crimes such as this happen in groups.
He said: “It seems to be every six or seven months there’s a bit of a spate of it, then they usually get caught and it dies off for a bit before someone else has a go.
“I’ve contacted police but they just give you a crime number and that’s it.
“You can’t tell who they are from CCTV, they’ve got hoods on, they all wear the same thing though, trackies with hoods up, it could be any one of hundreds that you see.
“I’ve just had enough of taxi driving now as a result of all this.
“I’ve been a driver for about five years now, it’s pushed me to get out of it really.”
Mr Cooper indicated that, while he shouldn’t have had his change box in his car, taxi drivers should be afforded more protection from this type of incident.
He said: “I shouldn’t have left it there really, but then people shouldn’t be throwing bricks through your windows either.
“I don’t think it’s taken as seriously as it should be, the police aren’t interested.
“The excess on the insurance costs more than having the window replaced so it’s not even worth claiming on the insurance.
“It’s cost me about £160 in total, including the money that was stolen.” 5 6 2 6 0 2
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