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Wheelchair woman split her head open on cab
A WHEELCHAIR-bound pensioner has called for stricter taxi regulations after being rushed to hospital after injuring herself getting into a cab.
Marjorie Chapman, 84, of Chester Road, Boothtown, Halifax, was left needing 17 staples on her scalp after scraping the top of her head getting into the back of a taxi outside her home.
Mrs Chapman, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and has been confined to a wheelchair for 10 years, said: "I was getting in on the ramp when the wheelchair went back and I hit my head on the cab roof.
"My head was bleeding like mad and one of my neighbours came and phoned an ambulance. "I had to have 17 staples on my scalp and it has left my head looking like an egg.
"I won't go in a taxi anymore it has really put me off. I don't blame the driver, he was lovely and so upset and looked like he was nearly crying but he didn't look like he knew what he was doing. "Drivers need to be trained properly before they are allowed out. It is not fair on them."
Mrs Chapman's comments come within a week of another complaint by Jean Stewart who claimed in the Courier her disabled daughter's safety was being put at risk by poorly trained taxi drivers.
Mohammed Siddique, owner of Crossleys Taxis, who Mrs Chapman was travelling with, said: "She was in an electric wheelchair and as she had gone up the ramp too fast she hit her head. I feel very sorry for her it is not a nice thing to happen but our drivers know what they are doing."
A spokesman for Calderdale Council which regulates private hire and hackney taxis, said: "All new taxi drivers in Calderdale have to take a test run by the Driving Standards Agency and this includes a module on disability awareness.
"We are also working in partnership with Calderdale College to offer disability awareness training to existing drivers. "We would advise any wheelchair user to make a formal complaint to the council if they are not happy with the service they have received."
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