Taxi drivers taunted after Brexit vote

TAXI drivers have reported they are being “waved goodbye” by people in the street in the wake of the EU referendum.

The information was passed on to Chief Insp Richard Butterworth, South Yorkshire district lead for hate crime, at his routine meeting with the representatives from taxi associations this week.

Mr Butterworth said some taxi drivers had reported that individuals on the streets had gestured a “waving motion” at them “as though they were leaving the country”.

He added: “It’s obvious the people don’t understand what the EU referendum is all about and are just using it as an excuse to exhibit more unsavoury or racist behaviour.”

Mr Butterworth added that perpetrators were associating people’s skin colour with where they believed they were from, when in fact they were born in the UK and were UK citizens.

Aside from this, Mr Butterwoth said there had been no major hate crime incidents or tensions reported since last Friday’s Brexit vote.

But he said if people did have concerns or anything to report, they should contact the dedicated hate crime team on

[email protected] or via the operation’s community advocates, like REMA, Rotherham United and Victim Support.

Mr Butterworth added that a significant amount of hate crime in the town was already directed towards taxi drivers and Operation Solar would soon be launching new initiatives to support drivers, particularly over the weekend.