Charity aims to school taxi drivers to look for signs of distress

The charity said it had been involved in several cases where people had been taken to suicide hotspots by taxi

A campaign has started to help make taxi drivers recognise when their passengers might be at risk of suicide.

Suicide Prevention Bristol said it knew of six journeys made by taxi to places where people had previously taken their life between 9 July and 9 August.

The charity said if drivers knew what to look out for and who to contact, they might be able to prevent deaths.

The head of one of the city's biggest taxi drivers associations has welcomed the campaign.

'Flag it up'

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Izzy Badham, from Suicide Prevention Bristol, said the campaign, called "Not the Last Stop", would encourage taxi drivers to be aware of the signs that could indicate someone was contemplating taking their own life.

"We are encouraging them [taxi drivers] if they believe there is an immediate risk to their passenger's life or they are in danger, to flag it up on their system so emergency services can be called.

"We'd also love for them to get some training and support, a guide to what to do in an emergency."

"Also we just want to encourage the taxi drivers to start up a conversation if it is a lone passenger who they believe are in danger," she added.

Saif Hussain, chair of the Bristol Blue Taxi Association, said: "I think it's a brilliant idea.

"It doesn't take much effort for us to help if the channels and infrastructure are there, we're very happy to help.

"I myself would be very happy to undertake training and I think other drivers would as they would recognise it's a good thing, and I believe we genuinely like helping the public that we pick up anyway."