Gun threat for £4 fare revealed in cabbie study

The violent incident was one of a series of experiences documented by an Edinburgh Napier University student looking into the working lives of taxi drivers.

Other incidents included a cabbie being punched through the partition window by a passenger, abuse by teenage girls and fare dodging by the elderly.

Moira Weir, an MSc transport, planning and engineering student at the university, interviewed 75 taxi drivers across Scotland about their experiences behind the wheel.

More than 70 per cent reported feeling unsafe at work. And 88 per cent said they had been verbally or physically abused by a passenger under the influence of alcohol.

One Glasgow taxi driver recalled feeling “cold metal” on his neck. The unnamed driver said: “The man had put a gun through the hole in the partition. It was all over a £4 fee.”

Another told how an inebriated male passenger “punched his way through the partition”.

Although taxi drivers reported feeling most threatened by men, anecdotal evidence from the study found intoxicated female passengers also caused real concern.

Another Glasgow driver said: “It’s gangs of women that bother me, three or four women all together. I always make sure that if one of them passes out, her friends sort her out.”

A Dundee driver said: “I have learnt how to handle grown men when they’ve had one too many but 15-year-old girls is a different matter. I have no idea what to do with them.”

Almost every cab driver (98 per cent) surveyed had experienced fare dodging and of those, 45 per cent claimed passengers regularly skipped paying. Passengers vandalising cabs was another major concern.

Ms Weir said: “I found it shocking to hear how frequently taxi drivers have to deal with threatening behaviour or fare dodging which directly affects their work and ability to make a living.

“No-one should have to put up with that kind of behaviour at work.”