Today I heard a really freaky story but one that ended with a happy ending. A receptionist I know nearly got kidnapped by a taxi driver. She took a cab to go home but instead the taxi cab driver started driving in a different direction. He then closed all the windows and locked the doors and started shouting at the receptionist whenever she said anything.
So she decided to SMS for help since she didn’t know how the driver would react if he saw her on the phone. She sent an SMS to the emergency number 112 with the taxi driver details which she got off the back of the seat. She told them she was being kidnapped and she needed help. 112 then called her up and straight away told her to pretend she’s talking to a friend so the driver doesn’t suspect anything. They told her to stay calm and that they would send help. They asked her to SMS them her location and to keep them posted by SMS on which road they were on. She did that and 112 were able to set up a police check point and catch the taxi driver.
It’s really scary the stories you hear about taxi drivers in Kuwait. Awhile back I read in the paper where a bunch of taxi drivers were capturing woman and taking them to this building where they would be locked up and forced into prostitution. Luckily for the receptionist she managed to escape. I was really surprised that 112 actually receive and react to SMS’s. I think that’s incredible and the speed and the way they reacted to this situation was spot on.
Great job!
64 replies on “Emergency 112 Rocks!”
OMG, are u seriouse? This is really scary, but well done for her and for 112. May god bless us all.
Nice! I never would have expected this sort of reaction from Kuwait’s emergency service. It’s nice to know they can be relied upon again. Did she SMS them in English or Arabic?
I once had this japanese teacher that complained about the same problem. The taxi driver drove off to an empty spot and was about to rape her. This really gives kuwait a bad name.
There’s this new cab service called the Pink Taxi or something here in Kuwait. I think you posted about it once mark I’m not sure. Pink cabs driven by women for women. I never knew the taxi situation here was this dangerous, and I think maybe all women should boycott them till they privatise them to the extent where they’re supervised. Like the London cabs.
lol Action :E
omigod! did this really happen in Kuwait? sounds like something out of a movie lol! I can’t believe how quick and professional the emergency call cntr was! Restored my faith in it for sure.
Props to 112 Well done!
she is very strong
Hope she kicked him HARD in the crotch on her way out!
@Mrs. F.,if u go through the stories of the expats here ul just be fed up hearing ’em…its too much and its bcuz of these maniacs…same thing happens everyday…
watever were here so deal with it…people just need to be careful…
that is absolutely frightening!
Great job by 112.
It’s all about attitude.If you get in a taxi,especially late at night,you have to be firm and loud.Have a “DON’T #@$% WIH ME” attitude as soon as you get into the taxi.
So lets send them an SMS now 🙂
A lot of the taxi drivers hired in Kuwait have criminal records back in their home countries. There should be a central agency that provides taxi services, like the system they have in Dubai.
THANK YOU Ministry of Interior!
good stuff, remember when 777 never used to pick up the phone
My experience with 112 (previously 777) has always been excellent. Even though I don’t speak Arabic, they would immediately transfer me to an English speaking person and record the problem. Then they would keep calling to check if the police have reached or not.
In my opinion, this is one service that you can definitely rely on.
Why aren’t they screened before coming in??
I am not surprised. Roaming Taxis are very dangerous and females should avoid them- unless the cab driver is known to them. But if one needs to take one, call or sms the taxi registration number to a relative or friend before boarding it. Call Taxis are better and can generally be relied upon.
Impressive! Thank god they answered and bravo to the lady for being calm and thinking straight. Great ending to a horrendous story. Thanks for sharing.
Do you mind if I share it? Only it might help someone else out in the future.
This is great, hats off to 112.
The stories of these wretched cab drivers is never ending. I have faced a similar problem a little over a year ago. I noted down all his details including the location I was in(which is usually put on the back of the car seat) and smsd it to my husband. Lucky for me, a friend was around the same area this man was taking me to and he stopped this car. I don’t even wanna know what the cabbie would have done to me. I had placed a complaint but nothing was done. Nowadays whenever I sit in a cab (which is rarely) I immediately note down their details and sms it my hubby with an end msg saying – ‘SAFE’. But now thanks to 112, I can say that I feel 100% safer. Thanks and keep up the good work.
@_@ OMG Allah setar o she was saved!
though its very stupid of the kidnapping taxi driver to allow her to use her phone at all… and receive calls b3d…
but what the hell is going on in this country!!!
and i AM surprised there is a 112 sms service! Good to know!
it makes me think of what my father told me once about kuwait back in day (ayam il fagir)
shop owners used to leave their shops open and go to prayer.
Great job, and I am happy and I kept in mind incase of emergency I can sms them.
When my girlfriend lived in New York city I used to always have her give me a call and read out the drivers information and the license plate number once she got into the cab so he could hear that someone else knew where she was. This was mainly when she took cabs at night.
Good job 112!
7amdilla the emergency services worked perfectly then! I hope they keep up this service and push to make sure people are saved!
I heard about a few things like this happening to taxi cabs, I really think they should do more to punish these guys and to screen them. Not just put them behind the wheel and expect quality service!
@LouiseX,
WTF! You “placed a complaint”??? Are you kidding me?? Why the hell did the guy who ‘rescued’ you not beat the living shit out of the cabby until he was unconscious in a coma with no bone in his body unbroken? Why would you not report this to the police? Complaining is what you do if his radio was too loud, or if he was smoking.
*clap clap* @ 112. Females that use cabs should learn from this. Better yet use the pink ones. If they’re up and running i.e. Even then be wary. Just cause it’s a woman doesn’t mean she can be trusted 100%.
good job 112
u saved the day lool
I work in ministry of social affairs , We check on the workers and labors affairs , and Taxi companies have the most outrages labor problems , lots of 1st degree cases jailed and waiting to departure them out of kuwait . You name it , Drugs positioning and dealing ,assaults and kidnapping etc .
Its all cause the quality of the labor they import and wastta . the easiest and fastest n’ cheapest way for a Taxi company to recruit their fleet cars with drivers is to employ labors with driving background from their mother Land , Dangerous Truck drivers with criminal background from Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh are the easiest to find !
Something very similar happened to one of my friends who was meeting me for lunch. A cab driver propositioned her for sex and she was 7 months pregnant! Luckily she was really close to a curb and jumped right out!
Stories like these are what make me so much more aware of my surroundings and where I’m going and with whom (for instance, I never get in a cab if the driver comes up and asks me – I’ve had that happen a time or two at TSC and it freaks me out).
Really brilliant reaction from emergency services. I’ve had first rate service from them too when my house caught fire. Help arrived so fast!
Jink
you said your Japanese teacher was almost raped. How did she escape?
What happened?
Women should always carry a swiss army knife or something in their purse.. just incase so that they can stab the cab driver IN THE FACE.
Aww!! <3 112!!! They saved the day!
Just last week, a friend of mine called me from a taxi – she was with her 6 year old girl. She had taken the taxi home from school/work, and the taxi driver was going the wrong way and wouldn’t listen to her! She was frantic when she called – she said she thought he didn’t understand and wanted him to talk to me for directions, but when she handed him the phone I could hear him just yelling, ‘Lah, lah, no no!!’ – I told her TELL HIM TO STOP NOW and LET YOU OUT! She told him, and he just yelled No No NO! again, and then the phone cut out. I was terrified! She called me about 10 minutes later – the cab had slowed down to turn and she grabbed her daughter and literally jumped out of the cab! So scary! And with her little girl, too! And this lady is the third that I work with that has had issues with taxis in the past 2 weeks! How do we contact the Pink Taxis – does any one know?
Alamut: I dont think there is a comparison in regards to safety with cabs in NYC to those boxes-on-wheels-cabs we have here roaming our streets.
Props to 112! A job well done!
Somebody call 112!!! Shawty fire burning on the dance floor…Whoa!! 🙂
Talking about security in taxi cabs is nothing new. What was mentioned about bad taxi drivers happens everywhere even in the UK.
Solution is simple, don’t pick a taxi off the street, book one. That way you can always report it.
End of Story.
Anyhow, I’m really impressed about 112 service now. Too bad Kuwaitis have their own way of ruining everything good… lets just see how many will prank that sms service now.
brave receptionist!
Well done!
let hope they keep this up !
I’m glad everything turned out okay.
Mark, just curious… I don’t get it, how did she pretend to be talking to a friend? Wouldn’t the driver know she would call out for help regardless who was on the phone? Risky business.
Great job 112 but I don’t think it was so smart to call her when she were avoiding calling and instead sending SMS.. whats the difference? she would have called 112 instead!
she were = she was ..
she would = she could
Mark, I know this is considered out of topic, but what is the nationality of the lady?
P.S. Kudos to our emergency services and also mark’s informative post that mentions that SMS does work on 112.
Hats off for 112.
Hats off 112… Nice to see initiative when/where needed.
من امن العقوبه اساء الادب
that’s because they are not punished well enough
if they get REALLY severe sentences they would really think twice before doing something similar
also, some areas are full of kidnapped maids and foreigners who are forced to prostitution and the ministry of interior knows that very well but still jleeb shyookh is out of their control and it’s obvious that they are not serious about it
i think kuwaitis themselves need to take action, so for example if someone suspects something then he should act himself and beat the hell out of that ***** even if it’s not happening to him or to his family, this will keep kuwait safe
I do carry a small benchmade in my purse. I feel a lot better since having it.
@MSM…
I meant that I placed a complain at the police station and nothing was done (this was over a year ago). And I did leave out the fact that the guy was dragged out of the car and beaten to the pulp, we wanted to take him to the cops but he got into his car and fled. I just left out those details to focus on the main subject of safety..sorry..But you know when in a similar situation your mind freezes you just want to escape in any way possible. So as soon as my friend pulled up in front of his car I just ran out of the taxi and sat in his car.
As of now I carry a pen knife and I dont go anywhere near a roaming taxi…
Everyone needs to carry a hard object (like a pen knife or key chain with keys), to be able to break open the window glass in case of such an emergency. Once the window glass is broken, it will be much easier to alert passing cars or pedestrians.
I didnt know you could send an SMS to 112 till i saw this post. They really should make that popular or how else are people going to let them know if somethings wrong..
Well done 112..
I also never knew I could SMS 112. I wouldn’t have even considered doing so.
That was very smart from the receptionist and a great job by 112!
I have called the Kuwaiti emergency before and never got lucky enough to have anyone answer my call. This lady is really lucky.
3azeez, are you serious? Calling your taxi instead of jumping into a romaing one may help reduce the number of incidents, but if you’re kidnapped and raped, knowing the cab number is hardly a magical solution that will prevent anything untoward or an assault from happening.
*roaming
These taxi drivers have balls. If they get caught, believe me, they’ll be wishing they would have rather died then suffer the torture the police will give them. I won’t go into details, but imagine the worse things possible you can do to a human without killing them.
Most roaming taxis are owned by MOI officers who make fortunes out of this business. Now go figure why nothing is being done.
That’s really cool. it’s a great to hear that the emergency number featured with and supports SMS. the good thing also they response and take it seriously
They should apply pepper spray in Kuwait for women
it’s really required!!
That’s wassup! Way to go 112..!