TORONTO, Ont. – Hundreds of Toronto cab drivers convicted of various crimes, ranging from sexual assault to impaired driving, continue to pick up fares after the city failed to get them off the road, according to a report in the Toronto Star.
There are reportedly 255 such cabbies on the roads. There are 10,400 cabbies in the city, the Star reports.
Only 53 of 340 drivers, who appealed a City of Toronto decision to refuse to renew or grant their licences, were actually forced off the road in the past five years, the Star reported on Wednesday, adding the city only checks cabbies’ criminal and driving records once every four years.
“That’s a little scary,” a customer named Mike told 680News as he got out of a cab on Wednesday morning.
“I always get a little concerned when I go into a cab when someone who is not on the picture [is] driving, but you know it’s something to consider.”
Cab drivers are required to report charges or convictions to the city, the Star reported, but that rarely happens.
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They should all be judged on an individual basis – which might be what happened if 53 of the 340 did not win their appeal for their job. As far as the impaired driving … How impaired?? There is a 0.05 level now – maybe it was in that new warning area of .05 – 0.08? Sexual assaults – well agreed that I would not want to get in the vehicle with someone charged with sexual assault but again, I think you need the whole story in each case, which you’ll never get.
Fire them all? For what? The article suggests that all of these individuals were taxi drivers when these convictions happened. Whatever happened to good, objective journalism? Were all of these individuals taxi drivers at the time the crimes were committed? When the media report all the facts then perhaps we can make a determination as to whether we feel safe in cabs rather than the sensationalism and scaremongering.
Ok, really, who is surprised? We’ve all seen the … unusually high level of plain scary driving among cab drivers. There are a few really excellent drivers out there, but so many are so bad. I watched a cab do a u-turn to get a fare. But he turned directly into the side of a streetcar! How is this possible? How can you not see a streetcar?
The licensing people do nothing. They don’t care. Hopefully this will get enough quality media scrutiny that law makers will be forced to address it. There need to be checks to make certain that the person driving has an appropriate license, license holders need to regularly, rigorously, tested, and police need to watch for bad cab driving. (and do something about it!)
Who is not convicted in this city? From people who are running the City Hall down to garbage collectors and rest of civil servants. Be honest, most people here have had runnings with the Law. Relax
Yes a lot of people do, but not for sexual assault, threatening life, endangering life, drunk driving. AND they are STILL taxi drivers moving women and people around at all hours of the night. Fire them ALL!
this is disturbing at best…and we are giving our info to these people, phone number, name, address etc..hmm..very disturbing…and yet when councillors get into trouble for infractions such as these, or even less they want them to resign..they damn well call for their heads and yet these guys drive people around and no one is alarmed…. O.o
Guess Canada is rich they can keep all these party drinkers including those in high offices not only cab drivers out of work or locked up guess we pay taxes so why not keep paying as much as we can to keep them off the streets, guess we used to being in deficit forever so it really does not matter, estimate 20 to 25 % of work force have some form of criminal record stored somewhere, guess we can afford it forever!!
How else are people with criminal records supposed to reintegrate into society? They pay their debt to society, obtain a legitimate job, and then someone comes out with a story like this that tries to get them fired. It’s shameful that the Toronto Star would publish this nonsense.
Many of them are REPEAT offenders, and still in the same line of work. You want your daughter/wife being picked up at 2am by a cabbie that’s been charged with sexual assault, just because a female fare told the cab driver she needed to make a stop first to pickup a puppy! (which is what happened in one of these cases). This guy is a hair trigger, and there’s a lot of them still operating cabs.
All it says in the story is those with convictions. That could mean anything from drug dealing to assault. The point is that the article persecutes anyone with a criminal record who is operating a taxi cab.
People have a right to a second chance. Getting a criminal record should mean the end of your life. If we exclude those with criminal backgrounds from getting legitimate work, then we should not be surprised when they turn to illegal sources of income.
I agree with you to a point, but when the offences are directly related to the job, i.e. threatening passengers or driving drunk, they should not be doing that job. Find something that does not present the same opportunities to reoffend.
why did you mention deportation? do you assume that every single taxi cab driver in the city is an immigrant and is not a canadian citizen? that’s a little narrow minded and insulting don’t you think?
i agree that once a person has a criminal record and been convicted with a crime such as sexual assult should not be in a position to be to re-offend again. then again, it’s the decision of the company who employs them to look at their policies of keeping on the job or to remove them from the company to ensure the public is always safe.
what company wants the negative spotlight shon on them?!
How in the world is it possible to have these dangerous men picking up cab fares? If the driver gets a conviction, he should immediately be deported. End of story.
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE LICENSING BOARD. PROBABLY TAKING KICKBACKS
I really want to see thsse kicked out and also those who park for hours in the shade in quiet residential areas, pushing the driver seat back. sticking their bare feet off the window and smoking inside the car. They may also be monitoring acivity in the neighborhood to know who is in and who is out.