Another one that's straight on to social media before contacting the relevant authorities.
Mum claims 12-year-old daughter was locked inside taxi for ten minutes over £1.50 fare disputehttps://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wale ... e-22102073The alleged incident is being investigated by Newport City Council's licensing departmentA mother claims her 12-year-old daughter was locked inside a taxi for more than ten minutes outside her school because she didn't have enough money to pay her fare.
Sheree Cueto, from Newport, claims her daughter Aaliyah was sat frightened inside the car for about 12 minutes with the doors locked while she was refused exit from the vehicle until an extra £1.50 fare was paid, despite the child not believing she had the money.
Sheree said she booked with Dragon Taxis to take her daughter to school on the morning of Thursday, November 4, and Friday, November 5, as she had to tend to her other young baby, who suffers from a disability.
She said she spoke to her daughter on the phone all the way to the school and that she'd been charged £5 for her journey on Thursday morning.
But on Friday morning she claims her daughter was charged £6.50 for the same journey. She claims that the driver then refused to let her daughter out of the car for more than ten minutes until her full fare was paid. She was only given £5 by her mother.
"She didn't have enough money as I'd only given her £5, so I rang the taxi office to pay the extra £1.50 myself," she said, adding that she asked the office why the same journey was now more expensive.
Sheree claims that while she was on hold waiting to pay, her daughter told her the taxi driver was refusing to let her out until the fare was fully paid.
"I was on the phone to her and she was telling me she was scared, that the doors of the taxi were locked and the driver was saying 'you're not getting out until it's paid'.
"I could hear the driver saying she wasn't getting out until it was paid for."
Sheree claims she asked the taxi office to call the driver and tell them to let her daughter out, as she was going to pay the fare.
But she said it wasn't until about 12 minutes had passed that her daughter finally found some money in her bag, paid the remaining fare and was let out of the car.
"She got in the car at 8.52am and was let out of the car at 9.23am. It takes eight minutes to get from my house to school via car without traffic, I have the whole call log," she said.
Sheree described the alleged incident as "disgusting" and claims her daughter has told her she'd never travel in a taxi again.
"The school said she was in an absolute mess when she got there. They were trying to calm her down until my sister came to collect her. The school were fuming too.
"If she hadn't wanted to pay, she was right outside the school - the only place she could have gone would have been into the school where they could have easily found her, or they could have come to my house where she was picked up. But to keep a child in the car like that?
"She is really quiet and shy, and she was nervous getting a taxi anyway. She was really upset by what happened. She told me she'd never get in a taxi again."
Sheree claims she was later contacted by Dragon Taxis who she claims assured her the incident would not happen again, as well as offering her daughter a free taxi in the future. But she said she told them she wouldn't be using their services again.
"She was nervous getting a taxi anyway before this," she said of her daughter.
"It would have been scary for a fully grown woman, but for a young child it's disgusting."
A spokesperson for Newport City Council confirmed it was investigating the incident.
A Dragon Taxis spokesperson said: “We are aware of this incident and are assisting Newport City Council licensing department with their investigation.
"Passenger safety is our top priority. Our safeguarding and licensing team have also conducted their own investigation to find that there are some inaccuracies in the information that has been posted on social media.
"We kindly ask passengers not to report incidents on social media so as not to prejudice any subsequent investigations. Instead we urge passengers to report any incidents involving our booking service or the service provided by the driver partner directly to Dragon Taxis via our website and to the local authority or the police.”
A Gwent Police spokesperson said: "This is a civil matter and no offences were identified by officers after speaking to both of the people involved."
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