The newly-formed Bermuda Taxi Association is investigating credit card transactions for journeys in a bid to help deter robberies.

The news comes after a 47-year-old Sandys Parish driver was robbed of $350 and cell phone by three men on Happy Valley Lane in the early hours off Monday morning.

The driver picked up two men in Court Street and a third on Angle Street but when the vehicle turned up the hill into Happy Valley Lane, one man brandished a knife and demanded money.

The three, who had pulled down their hoods while one had masked his face, then ran off leaving the driver unharmed.

Yesterday Bermuda Taxi Association president Michael Ray urged drivers not to carry large amounts of cash but to drop off money at ATMs.

And he said the BTA was in talks with Cable and Wireless about portable credit card swipe machines.

He said: ?It will allow them to carry less cash so they don?t go around with two, three or four hundred dollars.?

Mr. Ray said robberies of taxi drivers were probably more commonplace than most people knew because they didn?t always get reported.

He urged drivers to be very careful about who they picked up and said he was choosy about who he would take.

He added: ?Government has recommended GPS along with a panic button so it would give Police information about exactly where you are.?

But he said such robberies happened in a split second and by the time Police arrived the culprits would have fled.

?It really would not help.? He said it would only be a help when a driver had suffered serious injury.

Cameras in cabs have also been suggested but Mr. Ray said the three people involved in Monday?s attack had worn hoods.

He said cameras had their place but were very expensive.

What was needed was stiff punishments for those caught robbing cabs to deter copy cat attacks, said Mr. Ray.

He also told that his group was in talks with the Trade Union Congress and some of its member unions on forming drivers into a union.

Information was being sought on the benefits of becoming a recognised body, said Mr. Ray.

He added that a union could help to give the drivers and owners more clout with Government ? which often complained of a disorganised industry.