Taxi industry pushes to ban driver sex with passengers

The Danish taxi industry is calling for a legal ban on drivers having sex with passengers during rides, according to a report by public broadcaster DR.

Gyrithe Ulrich, a former deputy director of public prosecutions and now a senior fellow at the University of Copenhagen, told Zetland that passengers are uniquely vulnerable in a taxi. “You are trapped in a car. You cannot get out. You cannot walk away. You cannot call for help. And many are drunk,” she said.

Trine Wollenberg, deputy director of Dansk PersonTransport, the industry association for taxi companies, called the proposal “a good idea” and said the sector is seeking stricter regulations. She argued such a ban would protect both drivers and passengers.

Danish law already prohibits certain professionals from sexual contact with individuals in their care, including prison staff with inmates, police with detainees, and staff at institutions for children, psychiatric patients, or people with disabilities.

The push follows recent cases of taxi drivers accused or convicted of sexual assault. Between 2022 and 2024, Copenhagen alone saw seven such cases, according to København Liv. Zetland reported on two incidents where intoxicated women later discovered they had had sex with their drivers; one driver was convicted of rape, while the other was acquitted.

In response, Dansk PersonTransport launched the “tryg.taxi” code of conduct, which several taxi companies have adopted.