Taxi drivers working the late shift say they have been picking up an increasing number of Hamilton bar patrons who appear to have had their drinks spiked with the date rape drug.

A taxi driver who regularly works during the night says this week he picked up women from a popular Front Street club who are so incoherent they can?t remember their name or address. He believes the majority of them are white college girls.

?These two girls engaged me in conversation and told me they felt really bad,? he said.

?Having me working the night shift for a number of years and having worked as a bartender I know the difference between alcohol and drugs.?

The driver said he has picked up more than a dozen customers recently with the symptoms and he remembers calling the Police when a woman had to use her business card because she could not remember her name. ?She told the cops she was tripping, she didn?t know her name or where she stayed,? he said. ?There are a million stories like that out there and as taxi drivers we can see all of the things that are going on.

?There are opportunists out there who will do this to girls who have come home from vacation or are here on holiday and do not think these kind of things would happen in Bermuda.?

Bermuda Taxi Association president Lee Tucker said yesterday he had heard of concerns expressed among taxi drivers who have noticed people acting unusual later at night and even early in the evening.

?Drivers have mentioned they are concerned about the behaviour of the women they are asked to take home,? said Mr. Tucker.