Mum slams Scrooge taxi driver who was demanding more cash as she took sick son into hospital
A mum slammed a “Scrooge”-like Liverpool taxi driver who followed her into a hospital to demand more cash after her nut allergic son fell ill on a visit to Liverpool.
Joanne McColgan made the emergency dash to the Royal with son Ethan, 12, yesterday afternoon after he suffered a reaction from drinking a milkshake.
Joanne, from Forfar in Scotland, hailed a cab at the rank in Whitechapel, Liverpool city centre at around 4.30pm in a bid to get her son to hospital as quickly as possible.
She told the ECHO Ethan was sick into a bag and struggling to breathe but the driver stopped at a cash machine en route after she told him she might not have enough money to pay the fare.
She said he then followed her into A&E to demand an extra £25 after realising some of his vomit had spilled onto the floor of the taxi.
Joanne, 45, who was on a Christmas visit to her mum Myra Birkett in Huyton, said: “It was potentially life-threatening and this guy totally ignored that. He showed no compassion.
“My son knows when he’s had a reaction and he said “Mum, my throat’s going all funny”. I always carry double his medication and he has a three-step plan for when it happens, but we have to get him to hospital.
“Liverpool was mobbed yesterday and I knew that we could be at the Royal within five to 10 minutes if we got a taxi.
“I said to the driver that I didn’t think I had enough money on me, but I would get the rest of the money once we were there.
“He said he would pull up on the way but I said ‘Please, just take us to the Royal’. Then he stopped at a cash machine.
“I said ‘My son is potentially dying here’ and he said ‘Listen love, I’m a taxi driver, I need to be paid’.”
The driver agreed to continue on to the Royal but Joanne said he followed her into the hospital on arrival.
She said: “I had £5.30 in my purse. The fare was £6.80 and I told him I would come back as soon as I got my son checked in and go and get more cash.
“I told the lady in A&E I had to go and pay the taxi driver and asked if there was a cash machine, but I turned round and he was standing there.
“He said “Here love, you owe me £25”. The driver had given us a plastic bag because my son was unwell and he was sick because of the reaction.
“I put the bag down as I was giving him the steroid and some of the vomit must have got out. It was a tiny amount.
“I couldn’t believe my son was potentially dying and he was following me in for money. They took my son through and I had to run over the road and get him £25.
Ethan, who was diagnosed with a nut allergy when he was two, was transferred to Alder Hey Hospital for further checks but was allowed to go home last night.
Joanne, who grew up in Liverpool but moved to the USA for university and later to Scotland, said she was disgusted at the driver and plans to complain.
She added: “I told him several times what was happening. My son was clearly in distress, but he was absolutely awful.
“Even the staff at the Royal were appalled. He was worse than Scrooge.”
A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: “We are very concerned when complaints such as this are raised, and we will investigate the allegations.”
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/mum-slams-scrooge-taxi-driver-10662492
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MANCHESTER
Warning, do not get into any Rossendale Licensed vehicles. Its more than your life is worth.
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