Wolverhampton taxi drivers are set to be given powers to record audio in their cabs if they feel in danger following a spate of attacks.

City of Wolverhampton Council is planning to allow taxi drivers to momentarily record audio from inside cabs using a ‘panic switch’ after city driver Anakh Singh was attacked and killed over a fare in 2022.

36-year-old Tomasz Margol was jailed for 10 years for manslaughter after punching, kicking and headbutting Mr Singh in Nine Elms Lane, Wolverhampton, before leaving him to die. 

More than 300 crimes were recorded in 2019 by West Midlands Police that involved Wolverhampton taxis according to the council. 

Taxi drivers can install CCTV cameras in their vehicles, although it is not mandatory, but are banned from continuously recording audio. 

Some councils have already given drivers permission to install ‘panic buttons’ which start recording if a driver feels in danger. 

City of Wolverhampton Council said following the killing of Mr Singh in 2022, as well as other attacks on drivers in Coventry and Solihull, it was reviewing its position on audio recording as part of plans to greater protect drivers from violent attacks.

Up until now, the council has opposed allowing taxi drivers to continuously record audio in cabs saying that recording conversations would be “highly intrusive to people’s data rights and unjustified in meeting the purpose of preventing and evidencing crimes.”

City of Wolverhampton Council installed a panic switch in one taxi as part of a pilot scheme. The system is used by Rotherham Council which was one of the first local authorities to allow audio recording in licence taxis following the child exploitation scandal. 

Wolverhampton would join councils in Sheffield, Guildford, York, Cambridge, and Southampton to introduce taxi audio recording. 

The council’s regulatory committee meets on Wednesday (September 25) to approve plans for a six-week public consultation. A final decision is not expected to be made until next year.