A TAXI driver from Dursley was threatened with a knife in January 1992 and robbed of just one pound by a fare dodger.

Charlie Roberts, 59, of Highfields Approach, picked up two men from the taxi rank in Stroud but trouble erupted when he took them to the Prince of Wales pub in Cashes Green and requested the £3 fare.

The man in the front seat offered him £2 and asked his friend in the back if he had £1. The friend promptly got out of the car and leaned over the passenger, threatening Mr Roberts with a Stanley knife before running off.

“It was very frightening. I just pulled forward very fast but maybe I should have reversed and caught him,” said Mr Roberts.

The first man expressed shock at his companion’s action before he too fled.

Self-employed Mr Roberts felt drivers were at risk partly because they were unable to defend themselves.

“It was dodgy as he was pushing the knife at me, but the police say we are not allowed to carry truncheons.”

Mr Roberts said violence against taxi drivers was a worrying trend on the rise.

He became a cabbie eight months before, when the recession struck the haulage company where he worked.

He said the knife threat was the second most unpleasant incident he had experienced as a cabbie.

Before Christmas he had left the cab during an affray at Nailsworth and thieves had stolen the cab’s cash dispenser containing £80.

“I think it is on the increase. One chap had a knife to his throat in Cirencester and another had his window smashed in,” he said. 

He suspected that many offences were not being reported as they often occur during peak business periods when drivers are reluctant to stop work to tell the police.

Dursley’s Inspector Peter Seville reiterated Chief Inspector Baud’s warning that it was illegal for drivers to carry offensive weapons for their own protection.

“While we accept that there is a problem with this type of offence involving taxi drivers, they must not go outside the law themselves, but must use other means of improving their safety,” he said.

The inspector suggested that self-employed drivers and taxi firms fit vehicles with special safes to thwart would-be thieves.