Taxi Driver Online

A GRIEVING woman is searching for a taxi driver she believes left her mother to die in a Glasgow close in front of her grandson.

Anne Chadwick, 57, fell ill as she collected grandson Ian Ashcroft from Eastbank Primary in Springboig.

She took a taxi to her Tollcross flat but her condition worsened on the trip as she suffered a massive stroke and passed out in the back of the black hackney cab.

Eight-year-old Ian called his mother Anne-Marie McKay on a mobile phone but when she arrived minutes later, Anne was already in a coma.

continued...Now Anne-Marie, 26, wants to know why her dying mother was "dumped like a bag of rubbish" instead of being taken to hospital.

She said: "When Ian phoned I asked him where his gran was and he said: She's in the taxi'.

"I asked him to put the driver on and when I asked what had happened he said she'd had a wee turn but she was fine."

Anne-Marie, who was shopping, dropped everything and drove to the flat to find her mum unconscious on the stairs. She said: "When I got there, she was absolutely grey. I called an ambulance and they arrived really quickly. They did everything they could but it was too late."

The ambulance took Anne to the Royal Infirmary where she died two days later on December 22, the day before Ian's ninth birthday.

Anne-Marie said: "The driver just wanted my mother out of his taxi. He got a neighbour who was passing to give him a hand and then just left her in the close."

Bill McIntosh, secretary of Glasgow Taxis, offered his sympathy to the family and said: "It is beyond my comprehension that somebody could behave like this.

"We have an emergency system that allows the driver to get through to us straight away so that we can contact an ambulance."

Mr McIntosh said it would be impossible to trace the driver, who had been hailed in the street, from the 1400 taxis and up to 5000 drivers operating in the city.

He said: "Unfortunately someone who behaved like this would probably keep quiet about it.

But he warned: "If I find out who this is I will definitely take action against him."

Miss McKay said the driver was a grey-haired man and she believed he was aged 60 as he and Ian had played a game guessing each other's age.

She asked for help tracing the man and said: "It wouldn't have saved my mother's life if an ambulance had arrived earlier, but lying in a close is no way to spend your last minutes.

"How can you just leave somebody to die? This man dumped my mother like a bag of rubbish and went back to his work."

Glasgow City Council, which licenses taxis, said it would be inappropriate to comment on the case, as it could prejudice any future hearing.

We dont know the full details of this incident but if its true then its unbelievable that a person could leave another person in such circumstances. We do have a duty of care towards our passengers while they are inside the vehicle but by the sounds of it this situation went beyond a duty of care.

If the police really wanted to commit the resources to find this aged driver I have no doubt that they could.

Regards

JD

heres the link to the story:

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/disp ... ubbish.php

a couple questions maybe someone can help me with...?

1:... at what point do you as a driver become responsible for your passenger..?

2:...at what point do you stop being responsible for your passenger...?

maybe the word responsible isnt the correct word maybe it should be LIABLE....???

3:... are we duty bound whether as a driver of a public transport vehicle or Joe Bloggs walking down the street.
are we bound to give assistance to people in distress or injured in the street....?

And what exactly would the police do when they found him JD, charge him for not being a Qualified Neurologist? these stories always seem a bit strange to me John, why is it that everyone just seems to accept them verbatim?
If the reporting of the story had been a balanced piece of journalism they could have included some background information on how to identify someone who has suffered or is suffering from a stroke, there was or still is a campaign for this, the "Stroke is a medical emergency" campaign, it uses the F.A.S.T Acronym ((Face, Arms and Speech Test) so here are some things to help us recognise someone having a stroke:

Common stroke symptoms seen in both men and women:

Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg -- especially on one side of the body
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden severe headache with no known cause

Women may report unique stroke symptoms:

sudden face and limb pain
sudden hiccups
sudden nausea
sudden general weakness
sudden chest pain
sudden shortness of breath
sudden palpitations


http://www.stroke.org/site/DocServer/wo ... ?docID=881

Anyway John nobody is suggesting that we do not have a duty of care towards our passengers, but it is not really clear to the vast majority of drivers what that duty of care actually is or how far it should go, is it?

I'm surprised you didn't follow my lead in drawing the conclusion that the version of events are incomplete by not having the drivers side of the story?

The police would no doubt get the drivers version of events? Then they would have a clearer picture as to what happened while the person was inside the cab. I said if the police really wanted to find this driver they could but they won't commit the resources so they won't. I never refereed to or mentioned anything about charges.

I hope your not accusing me of accepting the story verbatim? Didn't I say we didn't have the full details of this story?



I suspect not knowing is down to the lack of quality controls on drivers, if Drivers aren't given adequate training then it is obvious they won't necessarily know about a duty of care. However the concept of duty of care should be inherent in us all because the concept of reasonable care is based on the actions of a reasonable person and in law we are all deemed to be reasonable persons until such time we are found to be unreasonable.

Obviously there is more to quality controls than just street knowledge but as I said we don't know the full details of this story and whether or not the driver discharged his duty of care to the satisfaction of the law?

From your tone I suspect you know all about duty of care and in that case there is no reason why you can't answer Tony's four Questions, or have you come on here to pick my brains?

After some complexity in the early part of the last century the law on Duty of care is now firmly established so it should be easy for you to remind us what it is?

Don't worry, if you falter I'll be right behind you to pick you up off the floor.

Regards

JD

Wasn't there a case in Manchester with a drunk who got knocked over, they tried suing the driver but the judge found that the driver had no duty of care to walk the chap across the road?

Unlike the case in France last year when the driver was done for something similar with a female passenger whose money ran out at a certain point in the journey and who was subsequently killed in a RTA.

regards

CC

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

Griffiths v Brown and another.

It wasn't Manchester. Kilburn High road wherever that is?

I think its on here. If not i'll post it.

The case in Glasgow doesn't revolve around the negligence of the driver in respect of causing the customer injury, its a matter of whether he new she was incapable of caring for herself while she was in his care? Therefore, what duty of care did he owe the passenger if he new she was so ill that she couldn't care for herself.

Regards

JD

Yes John, pick me up of the floor,I am humbled by your generosity and munificence, it's very touching.

As usual, you are as lucid as a perplexed London cabby who has just failed his knowledge test.

Can you answer Tony's request for information or not?

Regards

JD

I think it's worthy of debate John, it's an interesting subject though and it's a general one that affects everyone in the course of their work and business.

Anyway I thought Tony was passing it to a journalist to sort out?

Your quite correct though John, I cant answer the questions posed by Tony,nor would I, can you?

Thats the trouble though John is it not, nobody really seems to know, including me, so perhaps the first issue should be The Duty to Rescue, do we have this in this Country?

After years of ambiguity the law is now settled and you can probably read about it in the February issue of Taxi Today. However we do not know the full circumstances of this incident therefore it would be folly to guess at what might have happened and get it wrong?

You can speculate on duty of care but on appearances from the account the daughter has given to the media that this is not a classic case of driver negligence.

There is no accusation that the driver caused the condition of this unfortunate lady therefore it just remains as to what he should have done if he was aware that the woman was in a state of distress?

If he knew she was in distress while she was still in his vehicle then he would owe her a duty of care to try and determine what was causing the distress and if she needed medical attention?

There's a mountain of case law appertaining to duty of care and negligence. There's even case law appertaining to the assistance of the elderly in carrying their suitcases to and from, a cab.

On the face of it, this particular instance would seem to present another factor in the duty of care argument but until we know the full story there has to be an element of some kind exonerating the cab driver? I know that sounds a little generous based on the facts but never the less we have to give the driver that latitude?

Regards

JD

Well I would imagine that the case that CC pointed to is the kind of thing that worries most people about this sort of thing.
Also John could you give me a pointer to the relevant acts that makes it compulsory for one citizen to administer first aid to another, I cant find anything about it.

i've een having a dig a round and couldnt find it,
is there anywhere we can go online to have a look...?

its obviously out there somewhere but its not easily accessible...!
www.Press Cuttings Monthly.com

I haven't look at case law on the "first aid" issue but I would think its unlikely to be an offence.

The case CC mentioned is on here or it should be. Unless your referring to the French case?

Regards

JD