ALMOST half of the taxi drivers in Darlington have been physically attacked by passengers, an independent survey has revealed.

A report published by Nicole Westmerland, a former Darlington taxi driver, who is a researcher at the International Centre for the Study of Violence and Abuse, at the University of Sunderland, also says that three-quarters of taxi drivers had suffered some verbal abuse.

One of the most startling finds of the survey, which was carried out among a fifth of the 500 taxi drivers in the town, is that 73 per cent of the female drivers interviewed said they had been the victims of sexual harassment.

Ms Westmerland, who interviewed the drivers between November 1999 and February last year, decided to carry out the survey after her experiences of working as a part-time taxi driver in the town to fund a postgraduate degree.

She says her findings underline the need for taxi drivers to address security issues, with the help of police and officers at Darlington Borough Council.

She said: "Taxi drivers face an unsafe working environment and do not earn sufficient money to fund security devices without work and support.

"Until the police and council in Darlington are prepared to work with taxi drivers, instead of working against them, safety for taxi drivers is unlikely to improve."

The survey revealed that while women were four times more likely to suffer sexual harassment at work, far more male drivers, 87 per cent, had been subjected to verbal abuse.

A spokesman for Darlington police said: "There is no evidence to suggest that taxi drivers are a regular target for violence, but clearly because of the area in which they work there is always that risk.

"It is impossible to know the true extent of the problem they might face, because they do not always report difficulties to police."

A spokeswoman for Darlington Borough Council said: "We would be interested in seeing a copy of the survey, and we would obviously be happy to offer guidance to any taxi drivers who are concerned about physical abuse."

The report will be included in the Security Journal, which will be published for the American Society for Industrial Security