Last night, 22nd May 2013, we attended the Canterbury forum for Taxi Drivers to present the launch of our “Taxis against Trafficking” Campaign.
I am absolutely THRILLED to announce that at the end of our fist academic year, we have successfully managed to set up a society at the University of Kent, run stalls and events and guest speakers to raise awareness with students that labour trafficking and sex trafficking are happening RIGHT here.
Now we’ve also managed to reach our wider community. We’re joining Ashford, Thanet, Broadstairs and Folkestone to have a fully fledged and sustainable anti-trafficking campaign in Kent with a highly visible transport and information network.
The Taxi drivers in attendance thought the campaign was highly commendable and were keen to participate, as a result of that one meeting, 150 drivers in Canterbury will now have the hotline stickers, with Cab Co taking 50 in one go for all their drivers!
It has also received glowing support from the Canterbury city council licensing officers- who are distributing a sticker to every NEW driver who gets their license, every OLD driver who gets their license RENEWED, and are even going to personally speak to taxi drivers about human trafficking and distribute the sticker on their rounds.
This means that in the next 18 months nearly every taxi cab in Canterbury (up to 700) could be covered..
At the end of the presentation, one driver has already come forward to say that he strongly suspects a couple year ago that he transported a group of chinese men to an agricultural farm that could have been trafficked.
He said that there are plenty of farm labourers in Kent but his suspicions are raised as a result of knowing the signs of potential trafficking as they had a minder, couldn’t speak any english and were shaking with fear or nervousness.
By taxi drivers being aware of the signs of human trafficking and aware that they could possibly be transporting victims, they now have a way to report any concerning activity to a specialist police hotline, and can be a link between community awareness and real police investigation into potential cases.
It makes Kent a more hostile area for traffickers but must importantly is also providing a real chance that human trafficking victims in Kent can be found.
Special thanks to Canterbury Council Licensing Officers, David Stevenson and Louise Bentley-Sinstadt for your support and the opportunity to attend the forum.
Thank you to Stop the Traffik for your campaign design and resources. Very well done to Dipa Vaya, Kez Cawkwell for your presenting and Maya Esslemont for being our resident journalist. Amazing stuff guys. I couldn’t be prouder, what a great way to finish off the year.
Participating firms that we know of so far: (to be updated)
- Cab Co Canterbury: 0845 2502 209
- Canterbury Cabs: 01227 255000
- Cab 49
- Direct Cabs: 01227 495495
- Herne Cars/ Herne Bay Taxi
UKC Against Human Trafficking 