Mum's Terror Taxi Journey:
'I grabbed my daughter as door flew open'
4th September 2008
A mum claims she had to cling on to her four-year old daughter after the door flew open during their taxi journey.
Michelle Summerscales, 28, said she was terrified as she held on to her daughter Amy during the ordeal.
The mother of four, of Brickfield Lane, Holmfield, Halifax, hailed the hackney carriage from Tesco at Market Street, Hali-fax, on Friday, after a shopping trip with her twin daughters, Chloe and Amy, for new school shoes.
She was with her friend, Keeley Milnes, 28, and her two children.
The taxi was driving along Burdock Way when Miss Summerscales claims the sliding door opened, leaving Amy exposed to the open road.
Mrs Summerscales said: "Amy was sitting on the drop down seat and the seat belt for this seat – and all the other seats – weren't operating properly.
"I grabbed hold of her and was holding the door at the same time to stop it opening again.
"I was so frightened. All the time my daughter Chloe was saying 'Don't let go of Amy, Mummy'.
"Me and my friend were screaming at the driver asking him to stop, but he didn't hear us."
At the end of the journey Mrs Summerscales says she confronted their driver, but he said to know nothing about the incident.
"I was left in such a state. I couldn't sleep because I was having nightmares over what could have happened to my little girl," she said.
Sarah Richardson, Calderdale Council registration and licensing services manager, said the council was investigating the complaint."
Stephen Smithies, secretary of the Halifax Taxi Owners Association, said: "Within the last two months the council has tested every hackney carriage to ensure all safety features are working. I suspect the door to the taxi wasn't shut properly."
Source; Halifax Evening Courier
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