TORONTO – A woman says she and her female friend were afraid of being sexually assaulted after she claimed to have gotten into a fake taxi cab in downtown Toronto in January last year.
“Terrified, terrified,” said ‘Sandra’, using only an alias as she did not want to give her real name and asked Global News to protect her identity. “It took mere seconds for us to realize that this cab ride was not going to end well.”
Sandra described how the driver locked the doors and drove them away from their destination.
“There’s no doubt he was trying to get us to a secluded area,” Sandra said. “I can only imagine what was going to happen next.”
While the driver kept talking on the phone in a different language, she believed they were going to be sexually assaulted.
“He indicated frustration that there were two of us in the vehicle and that we were both sober,” said Sandra.
She also noticed the cab had no photo driver identification or ID number on the passenger seat.
The women tried to come up with a plan to escape when the driver suddenly let them out.
The incident was not reported to police.
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“You may not have been the first victim and there may be other victims after you,” said Toronto Police Service Constable Wendy Drummond. “If police aren’t aware, it’s going to be more difficult for us to make an arrest.”
Police advise it’s better to call for a cab rather than hailing one.
Meanwhile, taxi companies insist that customers always check if they are getting into a licensed cab to avoid similar situations.
“The first thing you want to look for is the taxi cab number,” said Beck Taxi operations manager Kristine Hubbard. “This is the most important piece of information that you can get on any taxi cab on the City of Toronto.”
Police are aware of recent incidents involving alleged assaults by cab drivers.
On March 3rd, police say a woman was sexually assaulted by a taxi driver who picked her up in the nightclub district.
The investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.
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