'My cabbie crashed, then charged me £77 while we waited for ambulance'
8th October 2010
A taxi passenger who was injured when the vehicle smashed into the back of a parked cab has been charged the full fare — including extra for the time it took to call an ambulance.
Crash: The crumpled front of the taxi
Penny Bickerstaff, 50, was treated at St Thomas' Hospital for concussion and needed two days off work after the crash — allegedly caused because the cab driver was reading a text message. The management consultant is furious that the taxi company, Computer Cab, or ComCab, refused to scrap the fare and insisted on charging the £77 on the meter while she waited for the ambulance.
Ms Bickerstaff's company had hired the cab to take her from her Wanstead home to meet a client in Trafalgar Square on Monday during the Tube strike. But as she sat in the back working on her BlackBerry at 11.10am, she became aware that the cab — travelling at about 25mph to 30mph — was getting very close to one that had stopped in the bus lane in High Holborn.
She said: “We were coming along at a good clip and, according to a passer-by, my driver was looking down. My guy never braked — didn't see it. We just went smack. I was thrown out of the seat and hit the partition and was concussed.
“I was woozy and bruised in the back of the taxi. He said are you ok?' and went off to talk to the other taxi driver.” Ms Bickerstaff was found slumped against a door by passerby Jonathan Jennings who witnessed the crash. He called an ambulance and tried to help her.
Mr Jennings said he had looked on “in astonishment” as the cab rapidly approached the stationary taxi.
“He hit the cab in the rear with an almighty crash causing the third party taxi to be shunted approximately 15 feet along the road, leaving behind its exhaust pipe and a ruptured fuel tank which was rapidly discharging fuel on the road. I could then see the top of someone's head in the passenger compartment who had been thrown into the partition and ended up on the floor.
“I was appalled at the attitude of the driver who had no concern for his injured passenger. He spent his time chatting to the other driver.”
The taxi firm told a colleague of Ms Bickerstaff that she was to blame for her injuries because she was not wearing a seatbelt. It said it was entitled to charge the full fare as it had taken her to her “destination” — although she was some way short of Trafalgar Square.
ComCab failed to respond to requests for comment.
Source; http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... bulance.do
