Taxi Driver Online

Minicab driver abandons passenger with appendicitis



THE mother of a York student has demanded an apology after claiming her son was abandoned by a Minicab driver while suffering with severe abdominal pains which turned out to be appendicitis.

Luke Sandland, a languages student at University of York, phoned for a car in the early hours of last Sunday morning, after suffering from what was found to be an infected appendix which later had to be removed.

Luke, 21, said: “I couldn’t sleep all night, so at about 5am I decided to go to the hospital, but I didn’t think an ambulance was necessary.

“I told him I thought I was going to be sick. He started pulling up, but I was sick out of the window, although I didn’t get any on the car. He pulled up and I opened the door and was sick again.”

At that point, near the Sainsbury store in Foss Bank, the driver of the minicab asked Luke to get out of the car, and drove away. Luke then had to walk the rest of the way to hospital.

He was later told his appendix was infected and necrotic and he was kept in hospital until Monday when it was removed. Doctors said if he had not made it to the hospital, the consequences could have been fatal.

Adrian Smith, director of 659 'Taxis', said he had discussed the incident with the driver in question, who maintained Luke had been sick in the vehicle.

Mr Smith said: “Each driver is self-employed and it’s their decision whether or not to carry people. “He’s made a judgement call because the lad has been sick in his car. If he’d said ‘I’ve got appendicitis’, or ‘My arm is cut open’, I’m sure he would have taken him to hospital, but it happens on a regular basis, people getting in the car and being sick, then being asked to leave the vehicle.”

Both Luke and his mother, Gill, contacted the firm to request an apology, but both said none had been forthcoming, although Mr Smith said an apology had been offered by a supervisor at the firm during the calls.

Gill said: “What annoys me is that they assumed he was just a drunk student, and they shouldn’t have.

“The fact he was doubled up in pain and he felt sick, and asked the 'taxi' driver to take him to A&E, didn’t that ring any bells?”

Luke said: “I asked them if a pregnant lady was in the back seat and her waters broke, would they stand by and kick her out?

“Their response was ‘you’re not a pregnant lady’. I think that’s outrageous.”

source: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/1004074 ... endicitis/

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Can hardly blame the Taxi driver if you made the decision not to use an Ambulance while at the same time realising the gravity of your discomfort merited an urgent visit to Hospital...Doh!





Uhh huh...it would ring a bell that says, "Best phone an ambulance or get a Doctor ASAP"

Thought wrong then.



Yes. Sounds like many a drunk.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

possibly, but to the point, you cant argue with it

if laddie had been a medical student instead of poncing about doing languages (1 down from "art") he'd have know he wasnt well.... at least he didnt get a £75 soiling charge should he have puked

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Not really good Samaritan behavior is it whilst i can understand the drivers fears about car soiling if it had been acute appendicitis the lad could have died

Is a life only worth the cost of getting your car cleaned ?

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

If the lad had rang 999 and requested an ambulance I would bet that he would be told to call the doctor out first and the doctor would have to request the ambulance. You would have thought that the driver could tell if the passenger was drunk or ill though, unless the passenger had been drinking as well.
Once the lad had been sick in the car, the driver may as well have finished the job because the damage had been done. It was hardly going to get any worse and had he completed the job he would probably have had no problem getting a clean up fee. At the end of the day there are taxi drivers and people who drive taxis. There is a difference. Someone will no doubt check and find out it was private hire anyway.

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Grandad,

Make the driver right................

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stressed controller!!!

If the lad himself did not think that the situation was that bad!!!.................then why is the driver expected to know anything different?

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

Exactly.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

So are we to let punters sh** and spew in our cars just in case they are going to die?

The punter needed an ambulance, the only thing the driver may have got wrong is he didn't call for one for the lad when he pulled off.

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IDFIMH

It is not uncommon for punters to act like that only for them to sprint off without paying.

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IDFIMH

It was a minicab?

The driver was obviously in the wrong.

Poor punter.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin