Cabbies get training to help battered women

Cab drivers are to be given a unique role in offering professional advice and a sympathetic ear to battered women.

The new initiative will help women trapped in abusive relationships to break free. Cabbies, often stereotyped as being insensitive, will be trained to give victims advice and locate safe houses for them.

Women fleeing violent husbands tend to confide in their drivers in the confessional air of a taxi, according to black-cab leaders, particularly as the first move many women make in escaping a violent relationship is to call a cab.

The Government's scheme will see taxi receipts carrying helpline numbers for domestic violence agencies, with advice adverts displayed in the back of the cab.

Drivers will be taught the location of refuges and how to give "compassionate and sensitive" answers if the subject is raised. Training courses will be held in major cities.

Taxi driver Ken Burton, 33, of Walthamstow, said today: "I'm sure all taxi drivers would welcome this initiative. We love talking to customers and as a result our greatest skill will be at the public's disposal.

"I've seen women crying in the back of my cab, saying they want out of a violent relationship. They tend to be middle-class women. Women like the privacy of the cab and the fact they can talk to a man who will actually listen to what they are saying."

A spokesman for the Transport and General Workers' Union backed the idea today and said cab drivers did not deserve their image as being surly and insensitive.

"There seems to be a confidence between a passenger and a cabbie that means women talk to them. It's almost like a confessional," he said.