Visitors to St George’s hoping to travel home after an evening in the town have been left stranded by unscrupulous taxi drivers who fail to answer requests for a cab, it has been claimed.

And staff at restaurants in the town say they often have to drive frustrated tourists back to their hotels after waiting for taxis that fail to show up.

The Royal Gazette spoke to a number of residents who claimed they had problems leaving the East End after dusk. The last public bus leaves the town at 11.45pm, forcing visitors who wish to stay out later but cannot drive to rely on cabs to get them home.

One Hamilton resident said: “The transport situation in St George’s is appalling — I went out to dinner there a couple of weeks ago and went down to the square to get a taxi home a little before 10pm.

“The only taxi parked there said he had a job at the St George’s Club, so I called a dispatch firm. The lady was unable to say when a taxi might arrive — or even if it would arrive at all.

“I waited more than 45 minutes before giving up and catching the bus to Hamilton just before 11pm. While at the bus stop, a couple of cabs passed with their lights on, but didn’t stop after I tried to flag them down.

“I feel sorry for the many restaurants in St George’s — I had a pleasant evening at the Beach House, but this kind of thing does not encourage people to travel out there without their own transport.

“It may also tempt people into drinking and driving — at a time when there is major concern over the unacceptable amount of alcohol-related injuries and deaths on our roads.”

Another resident had a similar experience, claiming that the lack of service was harming Bermuda’s reputation.

“My friends and I enjoyed a great night out in St George’s, only to find out that getting home might be difficult,” the said. “We called a taxi firm only to be told no one would come out. The restaurant called, and they were told it would be an hour if we were lucky.

“We were told by the bar staff that it happens all the time. Taxis don’t go to St George’s after dark, and visitors have not come back to the town in the past because of this.

“How can the Island expect to be a first world destination when it provides a third world service in such an important area.

“St George’s is a beautiful spot that people should be able to enjoy after dark, not somewhere you have to leave for fear of being stuck with no way of getting home. The town will never recover while this situation continues.”

Gunther Galen, who runs the popular Tavern By The Sea restaurant and bar, said taxi services in and out of the town were completely unreliable.

“It’s a disaster,” Mr Galen said.

He added that he had frequently requested taxis to take tourists back to the Tucker’s Point resort or Grotto Bay Hotel — and has had to wait more than an hour before they arrived.

On other occasions staff have driven guests back to their accommodations after closing time because taxis have not shown up.

“Sometimes I will call a cab for a customer and the dispatcher can’t say when a cab will get here — or if one will get here at all,” Mr Galen said.

“The customer gets mad and of course it doesn’t give a good impression about the Island.”

Mr Galen said that the restaurant’s owner had taken helpless visitors home, and he had also given lifts to stranded customers after finishing work.

Fellow restaurateur Danny Gogoi of The White Horse pub said that his staff were also forced to operate as unofficial taxi drivers.

“This has been an ongoing problem, so much so that at the start of this season some of the restaurants got together to try and rectify the issue ourselves,” he said.

Mr Gogoi said that the local businessmen had examined the possibility of hiring a mini bus to take late-night revellers home, but the scheme was eventually scrapped.

“I do know a few taxi drivers and if a customer needs a ride home, then I always call them,” Mr Gogoi said.

“Sometimes it works, but if I can’t contact them for whatever reason or they’re not on duty, then there’s a problem. I’ve had occasions where some of my staff have driven customers home or back to their hotel personally, but obviously that’s not an ideal situation.

Contacted by The Royal Gazette last night, Derek Young of the Bermuda Taxi Owners and Operators Association, acknowledged that there was a challenge providing services to the East End at times.

“The BTOA members will be holding a meeting on September 9 to discuss complaints like this to see if they can be resolved,” he said.