Everyone should be able to feel safe in their place of work.

People who threaten shop workers, or parking wardens, or abuse emergency service workers, are routinely hauled in front of the courts.

So spare a thought for taxi drivers. Their place of work is literally anywhere on their patch - from the brightest lit street to the darkest alley.

Add to that the antisocial hours, and the intoxication of many of their customers, it's no small wonder many taxi drivers worry for their own safety.

That's why it's encouraging to see Sean Walker, 34, receive a prison sentence for threatening a taxi driver with an eight inch blade, as reported in today's The Mail (page 2).

Luckily, taxi driver Stephen Golding made a lucky escape, as did the pregnant woman he was transporting in the back, but you can certainly empathise with Mr Golding when he says: "Before this I felt safe in Barrow, now I don't."

His passenger, Laura Hunter, had her two-year-old daughter with her - imagine trying to explain what had happened to a child that young, and to make them feel safe again in Barrow.

Hopefully, Walker's sentence of four years in prison will go someway to alleviating Mr Golding's fears, and the fears of Ms Hunter and her daughter.

We also hope it will send a message to those who terrorise our communities: can you afford to do the time?