Teesside woman starts new female-led taxi service to help tackle VAWG
Martyna Kalarikkal says it's the right time to start a company like this
A Teesside woman says she's started a new female-led taxi service due to women feeling unsafe with male drivers.
Martyna Kalarikkal, owner of Monroe Taxi, says between five to 10 male drivers are being suspended daily in Teesside.
She said: "I've heard a lot of stories from local women about how unsafe they feel sometimes going around in taxis. And that's not to say that every taxi experience is like this, but there have been many occasions where women just didn't feel safe or they felt quite intimidated.
"Especially for young women, it's a little bit hard to kind of stand your ground and say no and say to the driver, 'I'm not comfortable with what you're saying to me.' So they just feel intimidated and as a result, instead of trying to get different transportation, they just avoid taxis altogether.
"It's very uncomfortable to have to go through those conversations with a person that's essentially their job is to get you from wherever you are, wherever you're going safely. And those in-between conversations should never happen in a taxi. It's such a small, confined space, so it's uncomfortable as it is to be with a stranger in a car that you don't even know.
"I had a few taxi experiences where I didn't feel quite safe. On one instance, I had a driver speeding really fast through Acklam Road. It was at night, so there were no cars around, but there could have been a person. And then I also had some unpleasant conversations they would be asking me whether I had a boyfriend, and whether I was looking for one.
"Since we've started, we do have access to the data on how many drivers get suspended and the numbers are striking. Daily is between five to 10 drivers getting suspended for different reasons, but inappropriate behavior is one of them.
"So every morning, unfortunately, I wake up to emails with notifications of drivers getting suspended. And it's just really sad to see, because at the end of the day, your job is to make sure that somebody is safe in your car and to get them safe from point A to point B. But for various reasons, you know, we still get a lot of reports and people getting suspended.
"This is right about time to start a company like this and make sure that women can get home safe, can get to work, they can use us as a school run for their children. So it's just to put people's mind a little bit at ease and just to make sure that you have a choice to go with a woman driver rather than having to gamble on it and order a taxi without knowing who it's going to pick you up.
"So one of our repeat customers, she orders our taxi every morning and afternoon for her child to be dropped off to school and then dropped back home safely. So she's also very appreciative because we did mention that, just to keep the child safe and put their mind at ease, we're going to have one designated driver for this school run. Then we have a lady who uses us to go to work every morning."
You can find out more, book a taxi, or become a driver by visiting their website.