Taxi Driver Online

Well it had to happen. Will be a few more of these.


Dundee United player accused of Covid-19 breach in taxi bust-up

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... i-bust-up/

A complaint has been made to Dundee United after one of the club’s star players reportedly breached coronavirus rules in a taxi bust-up.

Mark Connolly, 28, was said to have acted aggressively and refused to wear a face covering in a taxi following a night out in Dundee city centre.

The Irish centre back and another man connected to the club were picked up in the early hours of Monday after visiting Balcony Bar in the city’s Ward Road.

It is understood the pair hailed the taxi on the street before the altercation happened.

The taxi driver has now lodged an official complaint with the Tannadice club, which is being investigated.

The United pair are understood to have spent several hours inside the popular bar, known for its rowdy karaoke nights pre-coronavirus.

They were among the last to leave the pub, which was reportedly busy before shutting at 2.30am.

A complaint has been made to Dundee United after one of the club’s star players reportedly breached coronavirus rules in a taxi bust-up.

Mark Connolly, 28, was said to have acted aggressively and refused to wear a face covering in a taxi following a night out in Dundee city centre.

The Irish centre back and another man connected to the club were picked up in the early hours of Monday after visiting Balcony Bar in the city’s Ward Road.

It is understood the pair hailed the taxi on the street before the altercation happened.

The taxi driver has now lodged an official complaint with the Tannadice club, which is being investigated.

The United pair are understood to have spent several hours inside the popular bar, known for its rowdy karaoke nights pre-coronavirus.

They were among the last to leave the pub, which was reportedly busy before shutting at 2.30am.

The taxi driver’s complaint, seen by The Courier, said both men were visibly drunk and Connolly “appeared unwell”.

“At approximately 2.40 am Monday I picked up Mark Connolly and another man from the Balcony Bar in Ward Road,” the complaint read.

“Both were the worse for wear with drink.

“Connolly was particularly bad and appeared unwell. He was shivering, snorting, coughing and sniffling constantly.

“I asked him to put a face mask on but this only drew abuse and threatening behaviour from him.

“This escalated as the journey progressed and was only calmed by the other passenger removing him from the car.

“After dropping them off my car required to be sanitised and valeted before going back into service.

“As a consequence not only has my health been put in jeopardy but I have suffered financial loss.”

The bar’s management say the men were “perfect gentlemen” and staff had no issues with them before the alleged confrontation outside.

A staff member said: “They certainly never gave us any issues and they followed all the rules and social distancing.

“They waited for their table to be prepared and cleaned for them and they never complained once about any of the rules.

“I couldn’t say a bad word about them when they were on our premises. It’s not the first time they’ve come in here.”

Face coverings became mandatory on Scotland’s public transport in June to help stem the spread of Covid-19.

It includes trips on buses, trains, trams, taxis and planes and ferries.

Only children under five and people with certain medical conditions are exempt from the rule.

Tony Asghar, Dundee United’s sporting director, told The Courier he has launched a full investigation into the complaint.

It comes just a few weeks after eight Aberdeen FC players breached coronavirus restrictions by visiting a bar in the north east city.

Two of the players tested positive for Covid-19 after the bar was identified as the source of an outbreak, leading to fixtures being cancelled.

A full lockdown of the city followed the incident and the actions of the eight stars were condemned by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Celtic defender Boli Bolingoli also broke the rules when he travelled to Spain, did not isolate and then played at Kilmarnock.

An odd way to complain about an abusive and threatening passenger, but I suppose it's different if it's a big soccer star.

Or, like I said the other night, maybe the driver thinks police would do zero.

By the looks of it, the driver may be fishing for some kind of financial compo, though.

bingo !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

If it is compulsory to wear a face mask in a taxi in Dundee, why did the driver allow the passengers in his taxi before they had put them on?

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Former taxi driver

There isn’t a zero on a bingo card, so, false call, you are disqualified.

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Former taxi driver

Easy in theory, perhaps not so easy in practice.

I mean, if I'm sitting on a rank, I'd need to lock the doors, ideally. But if I did that, then punters might end up going to car behind. Might have waited an hour and a half at that point, might end up waiting another hour, or not get a fare at all if it's end of the night?

Article said taxi was 'hailed' on street - don't know if that was a proper hail, because hail sometimes means a rank hire in, er, newspaper speak. Certainly, there's an informal rank not far from the bar mentioned in the article where cars sit at that time in the morning.

But if it was a proper hail then maybe locking doors more feasible, but still maybe easy to miss fact that face is uncovered.

By the way, face coverings for passengers and drivers compulsory in Scottish HCs/PHs for couple of months now, I though it was same in England now?

(Think driver exempt if there's a proper screen, but think it's still compulsory for the passengers.)

Driver who said Dundee United player refused to wear mask in his car given coronavirus test

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... irus-test/

Dundee United bosses have arranged a coronavirus test for the taxi driver at the centre of a face mask dispute with one of the club’s star players.

It is understood the driver took the test at the club’s St Andrews training ground following a complaint about Mark Connolly’s “aggressive” behaviour in the back of his cab.

The man, who has not been named, said he clashed with the centre back after he refused to cover his face when he picked him up, along with another man connected to United in the early hours of Monday morning.

He lodged an official complaint with the club, saying Connolly, 28, “appeared unwell” and was “shivering, snorting, coughing and sniffling” when the pair were collected from outside the Balcony bar at 2.40am.

In it, he said he asked the football star to put on a face covering, as per coronavirus guidance for public transport, and this led to Connolly becoming aggressive.

It is understood the driver has been isolating since the altercation and had his car fully sanitised due to fear of infection.

On Wednesday he was given a coronavirus test at United’s University Park training ground and is awaiting results.

Dundee United refused to comment yesterday, calling it an “internal matter”.

There has been criticism of the incident since it was revealed by The Courier on Tuesday and an investigation by United sporting director Tony Asghar continues.

Speaking today, the taxi driver praised the club for its response.

He said: “I have to give the club credit where it is due.

“They have stepped up to the plate and arranged a test and I can’t fault them for that.

“After an initial slow response, Tony Asghar has taken this matter seriously and got the issue dealt with.”

In his opinion column for The Courier, Arbroath FC coach Rab Douglas said refusing to wear a mask in a taxi was “absolute madness”.

“The last thing Scottish football needed was another story of a potential Covid-19 protocol breach,” he said.

“There are two sides to every story and all the facts have to come out.

“But if the Dundee taxi driver is right with his claims that Connolly refused to wear a mask in the early hours of Monday morning then the only way I can describe it is absolute madness.

“With everything that’s going on just now, you have to show common sense.

“The fact that this is an international week has probably helped Connolly and the game as a whole – and let’s hope United’s investigation helps even more and shows that his behaviour was better than it’s been made out to be.”

Story gets even more bizarre

Funnily enough, Scotland's first walk-in Covid test centre in St Andrews was announced just a few days ago. Which is just half a mile or so from Dundee United's training ground (which is on the St Andrews University playing fields).

So suspect the driver's Covid test could have something to do with the new test centre in St Andrews rather than how it's portrayed in the article above


St Andrews named as location for Scotland’s first ‘walk-in’ coronavirus testing centre

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/po ... ng-centre/

The first minister has confirmed St Andrews will house the first of 11 walk-in coronavirus testing centres.

Only in Darlington because the government issued guidance expressly excluding taxis and PH other than at drivers discretion

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Sounds to me like you are more concerned where your next fare is coming from rather than about your own personal health and safety. Pre covid 19 surely late nights early mornings you checked out intending passengers on their ability to pay, their willingness to pay, how drunk they are, how aggressive they are, or might be, etc, etc. Especially in a saloon car taxi or ph. And if you truly believe that a face covering might be the difference between life and death, why let someone board your vehicle and then ask them to put a face mask on? Damage done.

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Former taxi driver

passengers come under exemption from wearing masks in both Hackney Carriages and private Hire in England. It was in the most recent government information on transport. It was specifically mentioned.

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Grandad,

Yes, you're bang on, and since Day 1 I've always been more concerned about the financial aspects than catching Covid, as I'm sure I said here at the outset.

If I've felt unwell in the past nine months or so, it's not been because of Covid, but because of worry about paying the bills, paying the rent, paying for food etc.

And, yes, about where my next fare is coming from - but that's a more permanent thing

Thing is, everyone perceives Covid differently depending on their personal circumstances. Many high risk drivers, for example, worked throughout simply because they had to for financial reasons, and had to put the Covid risk aside, and some have even died as a consequence.

I didn't bother working for five months personally, not because of the Covid risk so much, but because it was totally pointless working a streetcar here with the pubs and restaurants shut, and the student and tourist populations non-existent.

Of course, it's easy for public sector types (say) able to work from home to get all holier-than-thou about public health while continuing to draw their huge salaries. I'd gladly stay at this level of lockdown and stay at home permanently if someone paid me £20k a year, but that just isn't going to happen.

Of course, apart from the financial incentives/disincentives, perceived risk is another big factor. Always thought I'd be relatively low risk if catching Covid (despite being mildly diabetic, late 50s etc), but who knows for sure?

Maybe if I did catch it I'd be dead within days. Maybe I've already had it but didn't notice


Well, yes

And if I saw someone lurching towards the car, falling all over the place, shouting and swearing, I'd lock the doors anyway, never mind that they might refuse to wear a mask.

But sitting with the doors locked permanently isn't really realistic. And keeping a permanent lookout for undesirables isn't realistic either - maybe an hour queueing on the rank, then 45 minutes in pole - I'm not going to sit there doing nothing more than watching everyone passing by and assessing whether they might be potential punters.

Even in Dundee I doubt if any drivers sit on the ranks with their doors locked all the time, never mind the much tamer clientele in my corner of Fife. (Don't know if it's the same all over the country, but I doubt many HCDs sit with doors locked all the time.)

And even if you're keeping a constant lookout, someone will always take you by surprise. Some drunks pi$$ing around in front of the car a bit further up the street, so you're watching them, then suddenly someone appears from the other direction and grabs the door handle. If the door's locked, you could lose the fare, and it could be the only chance of a decent run all week

Anyway, that's today's sermon