Taxi Driver Online

CCTV footage on the Echo's website.

Footage not that clear, but looks like woman could have been killed or seriously injured. So if the woman's story stacks up it looks like the Delta driver is in big trouble.

339 comments on the Echo's website when I posted this. That's easily the most I've seen for a trade-related article


Woman dragged down the road by Delta driver in row over £5

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... a-20235551

The NHS worker said she thought she was going to die in the terrifying incident


Image: Liverpool Echo

An NHS worker was dragged down the road by a Delta driver in a row over £5.

Maxine Rodgers described the terrifying moment she thought she was going to die after the driver sped off with her holding onto the inside of the car door.

The incident was caught on CCTV by a neighbour shortly after midnight on Sunday, March 21, and shows the moment Maxine was thrown into the middle of the road after letting go of the taxi.

Maxine, 49, who works as a medical secretary for the Royal Liverpool Hospital, had just returned to her home in Clubmoor from her sister's house, when she realised she'd left her phone in the car.

The 49-year-old said she rang her phone within minutes of the vehicle leaving and the driver answered it.

The driver agreed to return the phone for a fee of £10 but when she arrived Maxine realised she only had £5 in her purse.

Maxine told the ECHO: "I gave her the £5 and she said 'I said £10 you're not getting your phone.

"I said 'just give me my phone, I've just given you some money.'"

Maxine said it was at this point that the driver asked her to close the car door and said she would look in the boot for her phone.

"I said 'do you think i'm soft? You're going to drive off." She looked right at me and said 'right b****' and put her foot on the accelerator."

Maxine, who had her hand on the inside of the car door at the time, said she was dragged down the road, covering the distance of two houses, before she let go.

Maxine said: "I just had to let go. I thought she's going to kill me, that's what was going through my head at that point in time.

"If I had been under that wheel I would have been dead. I've got a little girl who's 11, she would have had to grow up without a mum."

Maxine suffered from concussion and cuts and bruises on her arms and legs.

She went to A&E to be checked over on Sunday and was given two weeks off work but said "it could have been a lot worse."

She said: "I'm just in shock. I just can't get to grips with what's happened.

"I was chatting away to her nicely on the journey home, I can't believe she's done that.

"It's not even about my phone now."

Merseyside Police said CCTV and witness enquiries into the incident are ongoing.

The ECHO has approached Delta Taxis for comment.

In a statement a police spokesperson said: "We are appealing for information after a woman was injured during an incident in Old Swan on Sunday morning (21 March).

"Police were called shortly after midnight to a report that a woman in her 40s had been involved in a dispute with the driver of a private hire vehicle on Glengariff Street.

"It was reported the woman was dragged along the road a short distance while holding on to the rear car door.

"The woman was not seriously injured, but sustained cuts and bruises on her hand, arms and legs.

"CCTV and witness enquiries are ongoing.

Anyone with information on this incident should contact Merseyside Police social media desk via Twitter @MerPolCC or Facebook ‘Merseyside Police Contact Centre’.

You can also call 101 quoting incident reference 21000179367 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, or via their website here.

not sure she can do that.

fair enough to request a voluntary donation but certainly we never charge for returning lost property unless customer lives more than 5 miles away and then it is the option of customer comes to us or pays the fare

As for the rest I wonder if the driver felt threatened but there are better ways surely than what happened ?

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

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I thought you couldnt visit family members at their home during lockdown never mind at midnight.

So if you have your own charging policy, why can't the driver and/or Delta?

I've returned plenty of lost property without charge, and can't really recall the last time I asked for any payment.

But if a driver asks for payment and is acting within the rules, don't see anything wrong.

I mean, it says the driver was contacted within 'minutes', but what does that mean? Could have been ten miles away by then, or even double that.

Incidentally, the article above is slightly different to what was posted earlier. Not that it's worth rereading for the differences, but there was this below, which clarifies how the driver was contacted. I wondered how the woman was able to contact the driver, or whether she'd maybe done it through Delta, but that detail was brushed over in the article.

But the article now states that the driver answered the woman's phone. Which often isn't possible, obviously, what with face/fingerprint recognition and all that kind of stuff.

Would certainly be interesting for that to be clarified, and to hear the driver's side of the story, obviously.

Hopefully there's CCTV, but if the passenger's account stands up and the driver can access the footage then I'd guess the evidence may have, er, disappeared by now

This is one of the latest comments on the Echo's site, although I can't be bothered reading all 372 of them, but not difficult to guess what most of them are saying.

But I'd guess this is from a trade insider. That's not to say it's 100% true, but if even partially correct then certainly puts things in a different light:

Not the first time this has happened

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Think that is a case of theft.

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IDFIMH

I find the best thing to do with phones left in the car, by a non regular punter, is to turn them off and pop them into the nearest police station.

If it's a regular punter then phones get popped in the letter box when I'm next passing. FOC.

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IDFIMH

I take it that the company has a record of who the driver was on that particular job?

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Grandad,
old fart with no heart

Police up here are very reluctant to take any property unless you can prove it has a value of more than £100.

Yes, I usually view getting the property back to the punter as the least worst option, because I'm not keen on going to the police with it, particularly if it seems a low value item.

Last few I travelled several miles out of my way to return items, and maybe spent 20 minutes on each, but prefer to avoid the issue of payment in case it causes any issues.

Last one, for example, was when lockdown was partially lifted in late summer. Three pished up older blokes, went to big expensive house on outskirts of town. Can't remember why, but was a bit annoyed with them anyway (maybe something to do with noise, or takeaways, or both).

And zero tip. And not just a bog standard zero tip, but one of those when you think they're taking the pi$$ a bit, although can't recall exactly what happened now.

So got home, about eight miles away, and found the phone. Was 99% certain it was their phone.

Anyway, took it back next day, and parked the car away from the house out of view, you know, just in case...

Woman came to the door, I asked if anyone had lost a phone, and she said something like 'he's been looking for it all day'.

So I handed it over, she said thanks, I forced a wee smile and just got away as quickly as possible.

Thought about maybe suggesting some payment, or saying something about the state they were in (which was basically why they left the phone), but thought the better of it.

But just one of these things I dislike, and you wonder if in trying to do the right thing it might all misfire on you, so usually try to avoid any possible conflict scenarios, such as asking for payment, even if it's just a couple of pounds.

For example, this particular phone had a badly cracked screen, so when might have that happened? Punter might try to blame that on you, particularly if it had happened on the night out and they can't even remember it was cracked...

Anyway, that was the last I heard of it. And the Delta case is at the other end of the scale, but demonstrates what can happen when things go badly wrong...

Police down here are fine with popping stuff in.

Think the £100 thing is a bit of a poor show, especially with things like keys.

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IDFIMH

Lincolnshire police also reluctant to accept lost property in fact I don't bother now despite the fact that it's in our license T & C's

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

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Is this a Liverpool thing?

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... d-20296904

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IDFIMH