The Fiji Taxi Association will seek Police intervention if the safety of their drivers is being compromised any further by customers.

The comment comes from association secretary Rishi Ram who was asked of cases where taxi drivers were being allegedly beaten up, robbed by customers and the members of the public.

Other incidences allegedly involved drunkards not wishing to pay their taxi fare because they had no money on them.

Mr Ram said: “Taxi drivers have to be vigilant and if they see drunkards then don’t take them. If they still get in then drive to the nearest Police station or Police post and lodge a complaint.”

He further stated that their main priority is the safety of the taxi drivers and that incidents like this usually happens during the festive seasons.

“We are monitoring the situation and if it gets worse then we will ask the Police Commissioner to place check points,” said Mr Ram.

Case

Farid Hussen, 41, who has been driving taxis for the past 23 years, told of the alleged horror he experienced about three months ago when he went to buy bottled water from a store in Raiwaqa.

It was like any other normal afternoon, Mr Hussen said.

“I had $50 in my hand when I went to buy Fiji Water from the shop and the change of $48 was still in my hand.

“When I was returning to my taxi, two men grab hold of me, one from the back and one from the front and they started to beat me up and it resulted with my two ribs being broken.

“When they attacked me I didn’t let go of my grip so they couldn’t take the money. I think they saw me inside the shop with the $50 and they were waiting for me outside the shop.

“I was so grateful that my taxi was locked because those two men could not take anything from me as my taxi keys were in my pocket and before they could do anything people ran to help me and they ran away.”

Mr Hussen had reported the matter at the Raiwaqa Police station.

Another driver, David Charles of Laucala Beach Express Taxis shared his ordeal at night.

Mr Charles who has been driving for the past six years shared his experience of how dangerous it gets for him as a taxi driver at night.

He said that near the nightclubs they would not want to stop for drunkards because they allegedly create a lot of problems. Sometimes what happens is that they are tricked.

Mr Charles claimed: “A sober lady will stop the taxi but a drunkard will get in and when we tell them to go out they don’t listen.

“The reason we don’t want to take drunkards is because sometimes they take us around Suva wasting our time and when they reach their destination they tell us they don’t have money and we cannot do anything because they are drunk.

“In most cases they also end up vomiting in the taxi which is a big mess for us to clean. It’s not always a trouble but only sometimes as in the night it is hard to tell if a person is drunk or sober compared to the day time.”

Police Spokesperson Ana Naisoro had not responded to questions when this edition went to press.

Edited by Ranoba Baoa

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