Yellowknife (Aug 15/03) - There is an epidemic of vandalism that is affecting two of three of this city's taxi companies.

Over the past week, vandals have smashed various car windows, but seemed to target taxis of Diamond Cabs and City Cabs.

"This has put a lot of cars off the road," said Sherri Graham, office manager of Diamond Cabs. "It's really aggravating and costly for the drivers."

No vehicles of Somba K'e Cabs have been damaged in the same time period, says manager Bill Slade.

"It's very frustrating for us," said Simon Musgun, a driver for City Cabs.

Musgun had the windows from his car broken Friday night. "They leave a mess and don't take anything."

Musgun explained that it's going to cost over $1,500 to replace the window that was broken in his cab.

Even though insurance covers repairs, drivers are afraid their premiums could go up next year. It will also take a week to repair the window, which means Musgun won't be able to drive his car or earn any money for that time.

"We're just trying to do our job like everyone else," he said. "People are scared now about where they park."

Graham said most of the vandals are looking for money, but drivers don't keep anything in their cars at night.

"This is just careless destruction," she said. "There's no point to this unless you call a few nickels and dimes treasure."

Diamond Cabs has four cars under repair, which includes a car that was stolen last weekend and trashed. Four cars from City Cabs were also vandalized during that week.

Musgun said they have reported all the vandalism to the RCMP, but they haven't heard anything further about the investigation.