Lowest

The above incidents are nothing compared to what can happen in the cab game, where some of the lowest acts occur. Like having a knife put to one's throat.

Early on Christmas Day I spent some time working the Surry Hills and downtown areas. Finally at 2.40am I killed my Vacant light and headed home, down Cleveland Street.

Some thirty minutes later a cabbie on Cleveland Street stopped for two blokes who assaulted and robbed him with a knife. When a reader reported this it left me cold.

Then, around 3am, after driving through deserted Rozelle and Drummoyne on Victoria Road, I came across a rowdy crowd exiting the Bayview Tavern at Gladesville.

Some were running across the road to secure a vacant cab heading into the City, no doubt to have him turn around and head west, a usual occurrence with these patrons.

Normally I stop for this crowd knowing they are generally harmless locals, but this time elected to drive by due to their rowdiness. A driver can immediately sense from hotel patrons' demeanor on a footpath, if they are a risk or not.

In addition to the blokes crossing the road I was distracted by a flooded half-road after a recent downpour. Bleeding off speed and easing around the water, I hit something on the darkened road with a loud bang, scaring the pants off me.

I couldn’t see anything in the rear-view mirror and figured a kid standing at the kerb had tossed a shrub from a planter box (seen here next day) onto the roadway. It was that sort of drunken crowd.

Within minutes a cabbie collected three young fellas there. However something went terribly wrong with the driver now being charged after one of his passengers was run down when they alighted in West Ryde.

The kid is in a critical condition. I hope and pray he makes it.

UPDATE: Knife assailants caught.

Comments

[jayjay]

Low: C'est la vie. How many customers leave tips anyway?

Lower: What tree vandals don't seem to get is that trees ARE part of the view.

Lowest: Don't know how you have the guts to be a cabbie with these scary stories. Keep safe

[Brad]

There are some horrible people around. Anyone familiar with bogans of Victoria will probably know the suburb of Lilydale. On my way home from high school as a thirteen year old one day, a guy put a knife to my throat on a crowded train because I was "looking at [his] fuckin' girlfriend like that". Which was like... Well, who knows? Then he spat in my face, which was also lovely. This was around 4pm.

Considering the clear instability of people like this I'm surprised there are not more incidences of cabbie violence. It's horrible nevertheless :(

[Nathaniel]

I thank god and anyone else you care to pray to have never been held up and I hope it stays that way.

I have however had knives in my taxi on 2 occasions that I know of. The first time the pax 2 aboriginals exited my cab committed a break and enter and assaulted a guy almost killing him and I had to go to court to give evidence.

The second time I wrote about on my blog. My pax had a knife

Stay Safe Adrian