Three taxi drivers have been injured in robberies in Prince Albert over the last month. (file photo/paNOW)
Taxi safety

Prince Albert cab drivers worried after three attacks in one month

Jan 30, 2025 | 5:11 PM

Cab drivers in Prince Albert are looking to make their work safer while still providing good service to customers in the wake of three assaults on drivers in the last month.

Pardeep Saggar of Checker/Family Taxi, said while the three drivers have physically recovered, one of the drivers required emergency surgery for a punctured lung.

“In the first one, they asked for the money,” Saggar explained. “The driver kind of argued a bit and then they stabbed him on the left side of the heart, under the arm,” he said.

The driver was rushed to Saskatoon for surgery as the knife had punctured his diaphragm and was only millimeters from one of his lungs.

That incident happened early in the morning and while the suspects took the driver’s money, they left his phone which allowed him to call for help.

On Christmas Day, a Grey Cab driver was injured in a robbery. The suspect, later named as 25 year old Frank Ballantyne shot the driver in the hand.

In the third incident, Kamur said the ride was normal and there was no conversation between the driver and the fare, who was sitting in the backseat and a second passenger sitting in the front passenger seat. A woman was also in the vehicle, according to police.

“The bad guy, he covered his face when he got in the taxi and then when (the driver) stopped to drop them off, he started stabbing (him) in the neck from the back unexpectedly,” Saggar said.

The suspects took the driver’s money and ran, but all were found and arrested. The man who had the knife was charged with aggravated assault, robbery and being disguised with intent.

The cab companies and the City of Prince Albert have met to discuss safety concerns and what can be done to help.

Mayor Bill Powalinsky said that changes will be coming to the city’s bylaws to help make things better.

“We brainstormed a list of things that the city can do, that the police can do, that the taxi owners could do, and we’re going to move ahead with implementation,” he said.

Shields between the front and back seats will be installed and the cost of also having panic buttons installed that would call for help or make the taxi light on top of the vehicle blink.

“It needs to be, you know, 100 per cent applied. It has to be done by every company in town,” Powalinsky said.

Another idea was to only take payment by an app so drivers would not have cash on them.

Saggar said that all taxis are already equipped with video cameras but they recognize that more needs to be done.

“Especially in the nighttime, the drivers are not feeling safe and they are concerned,” he said.

At the same time, companies are still feeling financially pinched as inflation caused by supply chain shortages led to increased costs. Brake pads that used to cost about $50 now cost $110, he said.

Hourly costs of repair have risen as well.

Some drivers will refuse to take calls to addresses they feel are unsafe, but that leaves the dispatch trying to find alternatives and its not a solution that appeals to Saggar.

“It’s not a good address, you know, but sometimes a good person is visiting that address, so then he is stranded,” he said.

“They do filter if they feel it’s not safe, but then somebody has to go.”

The passenger will then call and get angry because no one has responded to their request for a ride. If the fare knows they are calling from a problem address, they sometimes just use another house number down the street and the taxi driver will come, but unprepared.

Saggar echoed a common refrain of disappointment in a justice system that is seen as ‘catching and releasing’ criminals rather than incarcerating them.

“Why don’t they get a better justice system that can put them behind bars for two years, for a life time or whatever,” he said. “But they get away with a piece paper.”

“I think the justice system needs to be improved because how will you stop the crime if the person can get away after all these things and back on the street.”

In the meantime, Powalinsky said the city has a list of about a dozen things that can be done to help reduce the risk to driver safety but they would like to make sure issues are prevented.

Cameras, for instance, can sometimes be a deterrent but not always although they are valuable for investigating after an incident.

“The front end of it would be what can we do to ward off, you know, a potentially dangerous situation,” he said.

susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social

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