CIVIC chiefs in Winchester are being urged to make CCTV cameras in taxis mandatory.

The plea made by the owner of a local taxi company comes after a driver was jailed for 12 years for raping a female passenger.

As previously reported, Ferham Khan was working as a taxi driver in Winchester on September 30, 2017, when he picked up the woman from Broadway at around 1am.

The 33-year-old victim had been enjoying a night out with her friends and called for a taxi to take her home.

The 29-year-old driver from Derby Road, Southampton, believed his passenger had fallen asleep, pulled over in an unknown location and sexually assaulted and orally raped her.

When Khan thought she had passed out through having too much to drink, he called the police and complained that he had an unconscious woman in his car and that he wanted her removed.

As soon as police and paramedics turned up, the woman told them of her ordeal.

Khan was immediately arrested and his taxi seized for forensic examination.

As previously reported, Khan at the time was working for the Winchester-based company Wessex Cars and was suspended.

Following his sentence, Wessex Cars’ director Farooq Khan – who is not related to Ferham – said the taxi did not have CCTV cameras as taxi drivers licensed by Winchester City Council are not obliged to have one, unlike others in other cities such as Southampton. But now Farooq Khan is urging civic bosses in Winchester to review their policy and make CCTV cameras mandatory.

He said: “It should be compulsory – why not? If you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide. It’s for the safety of both drivers and passengers. We are going to ask them again for cameras to be compulsory.”

Winchester City Council has now confirmed that there are plans for future installation of CCTV cameras in taxis.

A spokesman for the authority said: “We were deeply shocked to learn that this woman was subjected to this attack and our thoughts are with the victim and her family.

“We are enhancing safety measures as part of our own review, which is already under way, including additional safeguarding training for all drivers, future installation of CCTV and clear branding to identify council- licensed vehicles.”