May 20, 2002

Dear Sir,

I should be grateful if you would permit me space to relate the following incident which occurred on Tuesday, May 14, 2002.

A grandmother, her daughter, and two children were desiring to take a taxi from Horseshoe Beach to Southampton after enjoying a few hours on the beach. (The father and a third child were on a scooter.) There were several taxis waiting, presumably to take beach-goers to their various destinations. However, when the four approached one of the drivers, they were told that they were “sandy and wet”. Hence, towels were retrieved from the scooter and when they returned for the ride, not one of the taxi-drivers seemed to want to take them.

The drivers, instead, bickered back and forth between themselves as to who would take the party of four to their destination. After several minutes of this embarrassing situation, the family realised that no one really wanted to give them a ride, so they telephoned other family members to pick them up.

This occurrence brings to mind the tragic incident of the lady told to vacate the taxi in the wee hours of the morning because she was eating, which led to her being attacked and raped along the side of the road as she attempted to walk the rest of the way home.

It might be a “stretch” to mention the Middleton tragedy in this context; however, I can't help but draw some parallels. If the taxi which had been called for had only arrived, would not the outcome of that evening been different?

I can only ask the question - “If taxi-drivers are not willing to serve the needs of the public, why are they in the business?” These are just more examples whereby our tourists seem to be taking the brunt of some of our disgruntled taxi-drivers.

CONCERNED

Southampton