Taxi drivers’ DNA kits to battle spitting spate

South Yorkshire Police has handed out 50 kits to drivers in Rotherham as part of its Operation Solar campaign against hate crime.

PC Chris Nicholson, hate crime co-ordinator, said he hoped the move would lead to more prosecutions.

He said: “We have got a problem in Rotherham as I dare say most cities have where taxi drivers are predominantly Asian and get a lot of hate crime incidents.

“They are spat at and abusedit’s an ongoing problem.”

PC Nicholson said police were planning other initiatives in the run up to National Hate Crime Awareness Week, which begins on October 8.

He added: “If a taxi driver reports that they have been spat at, they have to wait for police to come out and it takes them away from their business and they are losing earnings.

“By issuing them with these swab kits, they can carry one in the cab and if they do come across an incident like this they can use the kit, take a swab of the saliva and place it in the sealed tube.

“Then when they have finished work they can report the incident to us with the benefit of having forensic evidence.”

PC Nicholson said he hoped the new kits would lead to more taxi drivers reporting hate crime incidents.

He said: “Spitting at someone is assault and it is a serious offence.

“If we can make these offenders aware that taxi drivers are carrying these kits and can take on the spot evidence, they might think again.”

The Advertiser reported last week how taxi drivers had threatened to boycott Kimberworth Park after months of late-night attacks on the vehicles \_ including some by masked youths.

Munir Hussain, vice-chairman of Rotherham Hackney Carriage Association, said: “It’s not just about taxi drivers being spat at \_ a driver may have been assaulted and there will be blood that can be taken as evidence straight away.

“It can take a couple of days for forensics to come out and it’s really important that a sample can be taken immediately and then given to the police.

“There are still a lot of drivers who don’t report a lot of incidents because we all know the problems surrounding Rotherham and its situation.

“Hopefully, this scheme will encourage people to report incidents more.”