Police In Luton Have Denied Allegations Of Racism After Their Handling Of An Incident Involving Luton Taxi Drivers

Protest following police action relating to increase in taxi numbers in Luton town centre.

Scenes of the Market Hill taxi rank in Luton town centre which is particularly popular with taxi drivers and has sometimes caused obstruction to other traffic. Most of the cars are private minicabs and there is a maximum of eleven cars permitted at the rank at any time. A bus is seen unable to manoeuvre around the last taxi in the queue. The scenes illustrate a news story that two taxi drivers, one Asian and one white, were arrested on Saturday. Fifty drivers staged a demonstration, marching to the police station and protesting for nearly three hours until the two drivers were released. The report states that the police have been accused of racism as 90% of Luton taxi drives are of Asian origin. More scenes of taxis and passengers. A taxi driver identified in the Anglia TV data as Mohammed Shafit (query, Mohammed Shafiq?) says that some police officers give hints that they are racist and will ‘book you for nothing’. Exterior views of the police station. Two drivers will be reported following the Saturday incident. Bedfordshire Police deny the charge of racism. Superintendent John Baker says that and says there is no campaign against Asian taxi drivers or any other group. The dispute is over taxi policy and behaviour, and the police are trying to enforce the law. A possible extension of the rank is being discussed by the taxi drivers with the local council. The report ends by asking if there are too many taxis in Luton. It refers to the previous year’s de-regulation of taxis, with 61 licensed hackney carriages now joined by nearly 500 private taxis. The reporter was Peter Lugg for this video made to be shown in a news story on Anglia Television early evening news / magazine programme About Anglia.

Keywords

Taxis; Minicabs: Car parking; Traffic congestion; Protests; Racism; Police