Is there a ban on Sharjah teens travelling alone in taxis?

Sharjah - "I tried to take a taxi, but none stopped for me for over an hour that I had to change my mind and go back home."

"Taxi!. taxi, Oh! A teenager? I cannot stop for you or pick you up." This is one of the regular conversations between teenagers and cabbies here in the emirate.
"Going here or there on my own in Sharjah has become a nightmare for me," 15-year-old Mazin Abdul Khaliq, Sudanese, told Khaleej Times. "No taxi stops for me, and 'when asked they say: You are a teenager!' So what?"
Echoing the same, Grade12 student Abdullah Sharif, Egyptian, said he was heading from Al Rolla square to a friend in Al Mamzar in Dubai when he faced the similar experience.
"I tried to take a taxi, but none stopped for me for over an hour that I had to change my mind and go back home."
Wondering if there is an official decision in this regard to ban taxi drivers from picking teenagers, Ahmed Jameel, Syrian, said this cannot be possible, his son, a teenager, is not that young.
"I depend on my son to do the shopping and many other things for being busy most of the time, but he mostly had a problem with taxis for no clear reasons, as they refused to stop for him."
"I had a moustache. I know it is small, but I had it. I am grown up enough to take a taxi," said 14-year-old Sajjad Ahmed, Iraqi. "Do they think I am going to get lost, or cannot find my way back home, or what is exactly the problem," he asked.
Khaleej Times approached the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Sharjah, but they denied receiving any such reports. "Of course, we know about this problem in other emirates, but none of these cases has been reported to us by our staff cabbies," an informed source stated.
Sharjah taxi drivers go through intensive training courses on a regular basis, he added. "We always enlighten them about such issues, and how to be safe against such troubles, and we shall take a stringent action if any similar case is reported to us, but with enough details to be able to dig into the case and follow it up."
The public is also urged to reach the RTA Sharjah Call Centre at (600525252) round the clock for comments, complaints, and suggestions. "Our customers' feedback is very much appreciated."
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com
They are troublemakers, say cabbies
A.A., a Pakistani taxi driver here, told Khaleej Times on condition of anonymity, that he never stopped for a teenager. "I had so many problems with them before. I took lots of them to their destination, but then they just opened the door and ran away, and I had to pay the fare my own pocket."
N.K, also a Pakistani cabbie, said there is no certain decision or directive to stop picking teenagers, but they are mostly naughty, and trouble-makers. "I once dropped one here in Al Rolla opposite a supermarket, but he asked me to wait a moment until he got the money from a staff there he knew well, but he did not show up again."
M.I, a cabbie here, said he did not have a problem with teenager passengers, but he was alerted by his colleagues about some issues they encountered with them. "I have picked many teenagers with no problem at all.

• Sharjah