The taxi industry is hearing calls for increased safety measures after an Edmonton driver was allegedly beaten while on shift.

Vick Mander says his 54-year-old father, Balwinder, picked up two passengers from a southeast bar Monday night and dropped one off in Beaumont. The remaining passenger reportedly asked Mander’s father to drop him off in Mill Woods, but wouldn’t give a specific location and refused a request for a deposit.

Feeling unsafe, Mander’s father said he instead drove to a police station.

“That’s when the guy kind of woke up and said, ‘Why’d you bring me here?’ and started wailing shots,” Mander recalled of his father’s story.

The assailant fled on foot.

Mander’s father suffered a black eye, damage to his cheekbones and scratches across the face.

“The nurse picked up the phone and she said, ‘Yeah, he was involved in an assault in his cab,’” Mander said.

“It was gruesome. It was savage.”

Mander believes the job should be made safer for drivers.

“They shouldn’t have to be concerned about their safety.”

The president of the United Taxi Group told CTV News fare disputes are common.

“When they don’t want to pay the money or they don’t have the money, they have the tendency to get the driver involved into some discussion of violent nature,” Dawinder Deo, the group’s president, said.

He estimates aggressive incidents happen at least once every weekend.

While most cabs are equipped with shields and panic buttons that connect drivers to taxi dispatchers, Deo says there’s another measure that could be implemented: “Driver[s] should not move without collecting the fare.”

Deo advocates a pre-payment model, which he believes would eliminate arguing at destinations. Drivers would determine the price before starting the route.

“They know how much the fare will be,” he said. “If it’s a little difference, that’s okay.”

The group is talking with the city about possible solutions.

In the meantime, Deo knows what isn’t working.

“Anger isn’t the solution… a savage beating isn’t a solution as well.”

With files from CTV Edmonton’s Timm Bruch ​