They never came...

At 1.00 am this morning, I’m waiting on an office rank, strolling in the plaza when I’m joined by another driver. ‘Heya boss !’, I greet him. ‘No, no,’ he replies, ‘yu de boss’. He has a welcoming smile. ‘Listen,’ I say with open palms, ‘with taxis, we all the boss !’

He’s a mainland Chinese immigrant and a new driver. ‘You making lots of money ?’, I ask and we both laugh. ‘Very hard, very hard,’ he says, somewhat despondently. After a comparison of the weekends work, it is obvious he is really green, and has no confidence with drunken Skippys. He’s been driving past them instead. Doing that at night ensures he is not making any money.

Over the next fifteen minutes I impart some useful advice, elementary really, on how not to lose the advantage in his workplace. But understandably, it’s assaults and attacks which concerns him the most. So I assure him, if need be, he can survive a 70 kph impact. With a knife at his throat, airbags will save him, but not the rear passenger/s...

Shortly thereafter, at 2.10 am, I stop to gas up, before heading back to base. Just as I do, a dead radio suddenly shrieks, with the audio warning tone of a broadcast,

T1234 M13 SHELLEY ST WINSTON HILLS OF BOADA PLACE IF THERE ASSIST (sic)

I freeze. A driver attack in the North-West suburbs in the dead of night. But not too bad, as it’s central to Premier Taxis district and there’s every chance they have it covered. Still, it’s real quiet now, with most drivers having gone home already. Reassuring myself Premier will have someone out there, I proceed to gas up, then pass the time of morning with the Paki attendant.

Back in the car, 10 minutes later, I’m surprised and alarmed by a second broadcast,

T1234 M13 WINSTON HILLS SHELLEY ST X BOADA PLACE ASSIST

Jesus, surely someone is there by now !?! To call twice like this indicates real trouble and I’m suddenly concerned. This sounds bad. I check the directory. Yeah, I know this residential neighbourhood with it’s lonely gully and a badly lit park, due to overgrown trees. Shit, I have flashbacks to my own M13, when no one came...

I imagine the drivers’ terror. I wait, beginning to sweat. Come on - come on, give us the All-Clear. Someone must be there - it’s been a full ten minutes. Something’s gone wrong. Bugger it, I’ve got to go, even though it’s probably nothing. At 15 kilometres away, I figure on a ten minute emergency run.

Flooring it out of the gas station, I find no traffic and 30 odd green lights. I’m flying, doing a 100 kph on the by-pass. Will I get booked ? Nah, the cops will understand though they should be there anyway given the radio, supposedly, will have notified them already. But, when this happened to me, they never came...

And still no All-Clear - something’s terribly wrong I keep telling myself. By now my clothing is wet, hot, dank and my palms are sweating. Fuck I hate this. In a nearby neighbourhood, I spot a Premier cab, gassing-up. Mate, you should be there, I tell myself. I see no cops or rushing cabs. Surely they’ve been told, surely they will come...

Arriving in 13 minutes flat, almost sideways to an empty street and sleepy neighbourhood, I find no one there. Maybe a moving attack, I reason. Reaching for the mike, I call the base,

Mate, I’m at the Winston Hills M13 - what’s going on ?

I can hear her, but she wants a repeat transmission. Fucking radio,

Where’s the M13 !?

Oh...1234, everything’s okay, thanks.

Phew, thank God. Then immediately after comes the All-Clear,

m13 at winston hills - ok - thanks for assistance(sic)

Slowly, I turn around and head back for home, 15 kilometres away. Relief turns to frustration, then into anger. Why do I bother when a blase base is so cavalier about us drivers. Fuck those radio networks - screw us over money but never screw us over safety.

If I ran the show, no non-drivers would be allowed anywhere near the emergency radio - only hardened ex-drivers who have sweated and bled on the frontline. Bastards - why do I bother ? Because that driver is a brother, terrorised in the dead of night, alone and unsupported, pleading for someone to come...

Consider these appalling network responses, from the current issue of Cabbie...

NETWORK IGNORES M13s

Ever felt worried or threatened by passengers and activated your silent alarm without any response from the network ? Just the thought of that happening is frightening.
by Peer Lindholt - Cabbie editor

Last year on a Friday evening taxi operator Hemant Kumar received a phone call at home from the radio room at Premier Cabs. The radio operator asked who was driving his cab and if it was a new driver. Hemant told her the drivers name and that he had been a taxi driver for five years. He then asked why she wanted to know. “He keeps pressing the M13 and it is disturbing the radio function.”

Hemant rang his driver’s mobile several times but got no response. Worried he rang the radio room back and asked them to contact the police and send out a Mayday to other cabs as he believed his driver was in trouble.

Later his driver phoned to tell him he was at Parramatta police station. A gang of youths had threatened him with a knife for more than an hour which is why he kept pressing the alarm. Only a passing police car saved him from serious harm. Even Hemant’s pleas to the radio operator had not been acted on.

When operator Naranda Sngh was hassled by two youths at Quakers Hill he too pressed the M13. When the operator came on he asked for help. She told him to take the youth to Quakers Hill police station. Minutes later one youth forced his cab off the road. He was chased and badly assaulted, and now 6 months later is still unable to drive his cab. As far as he knows no action was taken by the network and police were called by a BP service attendant witnessing him being knocked out.

These two cases are not isolated. The often indifferent, even annoyed, response of some radio staff when drivers activate the M13 is legendary and it is not confined to Premier.

As everyone knows, it’s easy to activate the alarm by mistake but that should not result in a blase’ response from the radio staff when the alarm is real, regardless of how busy the radio room is.

Instead of a ministerial inquiry with a single minded, even paranoid focus on customers service, maybe Mr Costa should launch an inquiry into taxi driver safety, the training and aptitude of network staff allowed to deal with emergency and driver distress situations, and management’s attitude to emergency procedure and staff levels. After all, the most compelling reason the Minister’s spin doctors have given, for why cabs must belong to an accredited network, is driver safety. As it is, drivers are given a false sense of security and that is fraud.

Read the Keatsedale Report Mr Costa, you may learn something your bureaucrats won’t tell you.

Comments

[Yobbo]

I remember taking a cab home from Northbridge about 8 months ago where he had a rarity: A cab driver with an American accent. He was pretty talkative and I asked him why he drove a cab in Australia, it's not common to see US expats in WA and even less common to see them driving cabs.

He explained that he came here for love, and that he made more money driving a cab than he could doing anything else. "Oh, so you won't mind us doing a runner when we get home then", we joked.

"I wouldn't do that", he responded. "I've got a 9mm under the seat and I'm American, so I'm crazy enough to use it".

Yeah, he was probably full of shit, but it makes me wonder why more cab drivers aren't armed. I would want to be if I drove a cab.

[PB]

Top bit of writing, mate.

[adrian]

Good point Yobbo and something all cab transgressors should bear in mind.

Seven years ago at Taxi Training School, the lecturer on Driver Safety asked each student how they would defend themselves. 75% indicated they would be carrying weapons, of one sort or another.

The plea of self-defence works, if one can demonstrate a genuine fear for their lives...not hard in a cab.