Letters to the editor

A resident was taken to KGH earlier in the day and was to be treated at the hospital. No problem there.

The hospital had phoned ahead to let us know to expect the person to return by taxi. Awesome so far.

When the taxi arrived the fare was $11.25.

I had returned the resident to their room and obtained the payment for the taxi. I went to pay the fare with a twenty dollar bill in hand and had only been gone for 5 minutes at the very most.

The driver had told me that it was now $20.00 because he had kept the meter running. So I replied that the person only owed him $11.25 for the fare and that was a lot of extra money for the amount of time he was kept waiting.

I asked to see the meter which still had a sum of $11.25 on the monitor. Yet the driver still tried to insist that it was $20.00 - I was mad now.

The driver insisted that the resident should have brought cash with them to the hospital to pay for the fare home.

I said no, that is not correct they do not want you to bring things like money, care cards, other clothing or anything of the sort when you are being taken by ambulance to KGH.

I also said to him that he just brought a patient home from the hospital and this person was dressed in a bath robe and a pair of socks. Where the heck should the money be kept safe in the first place, under the circumstances?

I asked him if they just felt like they could rip people off anyway they felt like and why should he be payed more than what was on the fare screen.

He had already written out a $20.00 receipt but I was not going to pay him that much. He finally backed down and conceded for the original fare requested the original receipt back and made up a new receipt to reflect the proper price.

I am highly offended that the driver had the compassion of road kill and was OK with over charging an elderly person who was in no condition to be able to defend themselves at that point in time.

Makes me wonder how many other people have been ripped off by the cab drivers in this predatory fashion.

As far as I am concerned this company will no longer get my business nor will I ever recommend them as a service to anyone because of this highly offensive incident.

Shanahan McClure