REHUMANISATION (PART 2)


I mentioned this incident at a recent trade meeting with our own licensing team and the chair of the licensing committee. They were supportive, partly because we have fairly regular contact and they do generally regard us as human beings. I know I am lucky in this respect, and also that many of us are not so fortunate.


I picked up the same former classmate again last week and dropped her off at the same place. I told her that I had brought up the incident at a recent council meeting. She said “good for you!” She also told me that the driver of the other vehicle had frightened her.


him to pass, else it would have been a bit of a squeeze for me to be standing there. I also reminded him that it was his responsibility to ensure he left enough room for a door to open as he passed parked cars. Remember that he was also approaching from the opposite direction. He continued shouting before continuing on his way.


I turned away and muttered an expletive, a single word which did not form part of a sentence. He heard it because he had left his window open, despite the cold. He stopped further up the road and opened his door before bounding towards me on foot.


“You call me a **** again and you’ll be picking your ****** teeth off the floor! You are lucky I don’t report you!”


For what exactly? “I can and I will refuse in this instance.”


My passenger was standing by the side of the road. I apologised to her as I handed her bags to her.


The point I’m making here is that we seem to become targets of other road users who have perhaps had a bad day, and want to release their pent-up frustrations on the first licensed driver they encounter on their way home, on the presumption that we just have to ‘take it on the chin,’ lest we be reported to our licensing authority and potentially face a period of uncertainty regarding our livelihoods.


I should remind all licensing authorities that officers should be mindful of not being instrumental in the process of making us targets for such gratuitous abuse, because our safety and wellbeing is every bit as important as that of anyone else.


PHTM JANUARY 2024


The gentleman offered to accompany the passenger. I still refused. The risk of soiling was high, and not from vomiting. He is known by the local taxi trade to have a bit of a drink problem and to have bladder control issues when he is much less intoxicated than he appeared to be on this day. I reminded the barmaid that serving someone unfit through drink was actually an offence. Therefore this was a problem of her own creation for her to deal with, not me.


She threatened to report me. This was either an idle threat or she was incredibly stupid, take your pick. I also mentioned this incident to one of our licensing officers at a recent meeting. He agreed that I could refuse, and that serving someone already in such a state was indeed an offence.


53


There you have it, licensing authorities! When you unwittingly make us targets in your regulatory approaches by


potentially upholding spurious


complaints, you put our passengers at risk too! After all, members of the public only threaten to report us out of an expectation that this automatically puts a driver into trouble.


A recent early Sunday evening in November, I attended a booking at a town centre pub. A barmaid came out to explain that my passenger was “a bit upset,” and she would be bringing him out shortly. A couple of minutes later my passenger, somewhat worse for wear, was flanked by her and another gentleman. The passenger was clearly incapable of walking without assistance from two people. He wasn’t “upset” at all, he was blind drunk! I refused to take him and explained my reasons.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80