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20.01.04

WEST MIDLANDS TV

Inside Out, 91热爆 ONE West Midlands, Monday 26 January, 7.30-8.00pm

Ashley Blake presents the popular features and current affairs show

Bogus taxis

Inside Out reporter Jane Dodge goes undercover to expose the bogus taxi drivers of Birmingham. Using secret cameras, Inside Out gets exclusive footage of unmarked, unregistered and uninsured drivers picking up punters late at night.

And the revellers don't seem to care they're at risk, as they're seen begging for a lift home even though they know they're not dealing with legitimate taxis.

Inside Out hears from one (anonymous) 17-year-old male victim of a bogus taxi driver who says: "I went to get out of the taxi, but he'd locked the doors. He then climbed into the back and tried to rip my clothes off. In the end I managed to dial 999 on the mobile."

Jane Dodge joins undercover officers from Birmingham city council who team up with the police for a night time operation. It's part of a regular crackdown that nets illegal private hire drivers and the occasional bogus taxi.

And to see how the punters behave, Carl Josephs drove the streets in an unmarked saloon car. He was not registered as a taxi with the council, he had not had a police check done on him, he had no insurance for picking up passengers and he had no signs on the car to say he was a taxi.

But revellers still begged him to let them in to the car. Carl says: "The message is not getting across. I'm saying to the women out there, please do not get into bogus cars because that'll be the last time you'll be getting into a bogus car."

Hayley Owen could have been killed when she got into the wrong car in Nottingham. A private hire driver raped her after she flagged it down in the street.

But police took months to catch the criminal because there was no record of the journey. She bravely decided to speak out to Inside Out.

Hayley says: "I was really frightened. I was trying to figure out what to do, but I couldn't see past the panic. I was crying because I knew what was going to happen but there wasn't anything I could do about it."

And Jane Dodge takes a trip with a bogus taxi driver who brags about how he made an illicit 拢1,000 on New Year's Eve.

After she shows the footage to DCI Steven Anderson of West Midlands Police, he said: "Quite simply, we know nothing at all about this man. For all we know, he could be a previous sex offender. He could be about to attack you, rob you or whatever."

Fat cure

When Inside Out started filming with Gary Cartwright, he hadn't left his flat in Tamworth for six months. At 33 stone, he was too fat.

Life wasn't always like this for Gary. He once owned a 40-foot yacht, something he bought with the thousands of pounds he made as an inventor.

But when the business went bust, Gary hit the bottle. Gary says: "I thought once I'd stopped drinking, the weight would fall off, but it didn't. If I don't get help I'm going to die. I'm not living life, I'm just existing."

Consultant Paul Super is Gary's last chance. His radical operation could save Gary's life. Inside Out follows Gary through the surgery and beyond.

Mr Super says: "Surgery is Gary's last chance of losing weight. What we're going to do is remove much of his stomach and at the same time join up the intestine to the stomach pouch so he doesn't digest his food properly."

Teena Hill from Sutton Coldfield was one of Paul Super's patients. Since becoming the first person in England to have Mr Super's revolutionary operation, she's a new woman. Teena was 23 stone but following surgery, she lost half her body weight in just over a year.

She says: "It's like someone has given you a second chance to wipe the slate clean, start again, look after yourself and enjoy life."

At 33 stone, Chris Meddings is another of Paul Super's success stories. That's because Chris, from Lichfield, used to weigh 60 stone and had to be winched out of his bedroom by a fire service crane when he eventually agreed to leave his home.

Chris says: "When they see me, people will probably think I'm still overweight and ask why I'm so happy. But just being able to walk out into the garden is a complete and utter life change."

Meet Chris and Teena and follow Gary Cartwright's battle to regain his life on Inside Out.

For more information about Inside Out visit: .

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