“Just before I came down, he locked the doors, without saying anything.” During the night from Saturday to Sunday, after a drunken evening in Seewen (SZ), two friends, who did not want to wait thirty minutes for their bus, got into the taxi of a Lucerne company. “The driver asked us for half the price for the ride. It surprised us,” says Léa*, 23 years old. The latter took a seat in the back and Valérie*, 21, sat in the passenger seat. But the journey turned into a nightmare.
“He asked us several times if we were over 18 and complimented us on our appearance,” says Léa. Before the taxi driver, in his sixties, locks the vehicle. “We were extremely uncomfortable,” she says.
Once Léa settled at home, Valérie, who lives a little further away, remained in the cabin. She says that the man was driving very slowly and that he regularly leaned towards her to stare straight into her eyes. With innuendo, he then offered to pay for the fare in kind and tried to slip his hand between her legs. “I pushed her away and threatened to call the police,” said the woman who, panicked, paid for her fare before getting out of the car.
Arriving at home, Valérie informed the police, who confirmed having been alerted on this subject. An investigation has been opened. Contacted, the manager of the taxi company concerned, for his part, did not wish to comment.
In the canton of Vaud, police report a dozen attempted sexual assaults that have occurred in taxis or Uber vehicles over the past two years. Each time, it was women, between 18 and 30 years old, who filed the complaint.
In 2021, an Uber driver was convicted in the canton of Friborg for having, during a trip between Lausanne and Attalens (FR), caressed the face of a customer, before taking her hand and placing it on her penis in erection.
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