Brett Patzer, of Custom Plastic Creations, sits in the back seat of a taxi cab behind a full shield. (WINNIPEG SUN)

WINNIPEG - For at least the third time in seven days, a Winnipeg cab driver has been attacked and wounded by an unruly fare.

The string of stabbings and physical assaults has reignited the issue of cab driver safety in Winnipeg and the debate over what must be done to keep cabbies safe.

Brett Patzer thinks he has a solution.

Custom Plastic Creations, the Winnipeg-based company Patzer works for, has manufactured and installed about 10 police-style full shields in Winnipeg cabs, mostly for smaller companies or independent operators.

The shield divides the front and rear passenger compartments and acts as a barrier between the driver and backseat passengers. The shield style is synonymous with New York City taxis.

“The driver is completely inaccessible from the backseat. There’s no possible way they can assault the driver,” said Patzer, Custom Plastic Creations’ production manager. “You can beat on it all you want and it’s not going to move, and you can’t slip your hand through to get to the driver.”

The current shield mandated for cabs protects a driver’s back but he or she is vulnerable from the right side. Custom Plastic Creations manufactures those shields, too.

In response to a rash of attacks this year, including one which left a cabbie with brain damage, the Manitoba Taxicab Board approved new shields which wrap around a driver’s seat, as well as brighter rooftop distress signals. But the recommendations haven’t been implemented.

A cab owner can install a full shield if he or she chooses.

Some drivers told the Winnipeg Sun they would prefer a full shield but worry they would lose fares in groups of four by not allowing someone to sit in the front passenger seat.

Custom Plastic Creations installed a full shield for Mike Akinola, a cab owner and driver for United Plus Taxi.

Akinola thinks full shields should be mandatory.

“I did it to protect my life. It’s better than the (mandated) shield that doesn’t protect me,” Akinola said.

Custom Plastic Creations’ full shield is more than half a centimetre thick, has speaking holes and a small tray to exchange money. The cost per shield is $595, including installation, Patzer said.

The latest attack occurred when a 26-year-old male cab driver was stabbed by a woman in the 800 block of Pritchard Avenue on Tuesday at 4:30 a.m.

A source said the woman refused to pay so the driver ordered her out.

She stabbed him inside the car, the source said.

The driver was taken to hospital in stable condition.

chris.kitching@sunmedia.ca