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http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/ ... tient-row/

Probe into taxi firm over 'dumped' heart patient row
by Alex Gore
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A TAXI firm is to be investigated after one of its drivers left a disabled pensioner on his way home from hospital at the roadside in below zero temperatures.

Wokingham Borough Council is launching the probe into why Royal Berkshire Hospital heart patient Brian Duffell, 75, was booted out of a Loddon Cars taxi and left to walk more than a mile to his Ascot home.

Mr Duffell, who needs a mobility scooter to go even short distances, was later found slumped and shivering in the snow by appalled family friends.

Staff at the Reading hospital ordered the taxi on Saturday, December 18, because Mr Duffell’s daughter, Lorraine Adams, had a vomiting bug and was unsafe for her to collect him. But when the driver arrived in snowbound Ascot, he refused to go any further and despite pleas from Mr Duffell told the grandfather to get out an walk.

The local licensing authority, Wokingham Borough Council, said it will be talking to staff at Loddon Cars in Twyford to get their side of the story.

Its enforcement powers range from sending a warning letter to revoking the licence.

The council’s place and neighbourhood services manager, Mark Moon, said: “It may be that the car could not get up a very icy hill and the driver found themselves in a difficult situation. But you don’t leave a heart patient in the snow like that, it’s appalling.”

No-one from Loddon Cars has been prepared to comment, despite numerous calls from The Chronicle, but spokesman Naeem Mirza reportedly told a national newspaper: “I’m sorry for the situation. I was very angry with our driver, he shouldn’t have done that. I would like to apologise to Mr Duffell.”

The family-run taxi firm was founded more than 12 years ago and is based outside Twyford railway station. Its website says staff have to pass a rigorous selection process.

Mr Duffell had been taken to the Royal Berks with an irregular heartbeat after collapsing at Sainsbury’s supermarket, off Bagshot Road, Bracknell.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

I wonder if the press has got it right, are they hack or PH???

It's a private hire company

I bet the driver has never taken or passed a National Vocational Qualification in Transporting Passengers by Taxi or Private Hire Vehicle!

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I don't know about that Brummie. The driver could have used the 'training' in risk assessment to evaluate the risk to their vehicle and themselves before putting the passenger out on the pavement