 Female Police Officers arrest a tout as Inspector Barry Bishop leaps out of his unmarked car to make sure the driver doesn't do a runner! |
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CALL SIGN JOINS THE ANTI-TOUT SQUAD
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| Touting
on the streets of London by both licensed and unlicensed private
hire is alive and well and flourishing, despite Mayor Kens'
efforts to clean up the streets with such projects as the
Know what you're getting into campaign and the recently
introduced Texting service - where local transportation
companies can be accessed via mobile phone. At the personal invitation of Sgt. Dave Hillson of the Cab Enforcement Team, Call Sign sent a reporter to join the tout-busters one evening on an anti-touting operation to see for ourselves the planning and tactics employed against the increasingly brazen scourge that plague the streets of our capital. Understandably, we were forbidden to use flash photography, as that would have been akin to the squad members wearing ‘I’m an anti-tout policeman’ top! After a 5-star cuisine dinner in the MPS restaurant courtesy of Sgt. Hillson, we joined the Team as they gathered at a central London police station for a detailed briefing, prior to being deployed at several 'hot spot' locations around the West End, where experience has shown that successful results - ie an arrest when a tout stops and offers a ride - can be extremely 'rewarding' for the Team! Call Sign’s man on the spot was embedded with the Mets' equivalent of Kojack, Inspector Barry Bishop, the Guv'nor of the Enforcement Team as he directed |
the overall strategy from an unmarked police car. This enabled us to observe the action as it happened on the streets as the Guv flew from venue to venue ensuring that things were going smoothly and successfully. It was not possible to gain the views of the touts as to how they thought the operation went, 'cos they were a bit pre-occupied with being 'cuffed and charged! Shocked and stunned without a Tazer gun in sight, is probably the best description we can come up with…! Small groups of plain-clothes police officers – both male and female - were deployed into selected nightclubs and other entertainment venues and then, when exiting the club, would slowly walk up the street. If they were then approached by a tout and offered a ride, the tout would be promptly nicked! By 01.00 hours, 4 touts had been apprehended and as the night wore on, many more were to follow. Radio messages poured into our control car as tout after tout was taken off the street by the under-cover police teams. A total of 21 touts were arrested on the evening Call Sign became an honorary copper! The Team view touting and theimpact it has on the taxi trade, very seriously. During the operation, one police officer suggested to our reporter that as a taxi driver he must be livid seeing others illegally stealing the work that was rightly ours? How very |
 A female officer puts the cuffs a tout true and telling that is and it shows that the police do fully grasp the situation. So busy were the various teams that night that at one stage, Enforcer Bishop ran out of troops on the ground, as arresting officers were tied up at police stations with their 'catches'. Finally, and not too long before the dawn was due, the last tout of the evening was arrested. On arrival at one of the custodial police stations, he duly gave his name and address when asked to by the receiving sergeant. However, with the instinct of many years’ service and known in the trade as 'a copper's nose', Dave Hillson was not happy with the answer. So the tout was duly transferred to a police station that had a livescan machine to determine his true identity. Et voila! The tout turned out to be a disqualified driver who had given false details! "Not a bad tally," said Kojack Bishop, "it makes all the planning worthwhile and proves the tenacity of my men and women," he grinned with the satisfaction of a job well done. And as the clock struck 6am, Call Sign’s man about town finally got to bed… © Call Sign Magazine MM5 |
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MICKY ASCOTT 1937 - 2005 |
Call Sign was shocked to hear the sad news that Micky Ascott had
died whilst on holiday in France. Micky was 68 and had recently
handed in his taxi licence. To his wife Maureen and the rest of his family, we send our condolences… |
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