Taxi driving and the golden rule when facing difficult passengers

By now, many people will have seen the video footage of a taxi driver pulling somebody who was seemingly unconscious out of the back of his taxi and leaving him in the road.

The incident, which took place near Fenchurch Street in London has rightly, been condemned by many within the industry.

It has been widely regarded as a completely irresponsible act with the driver showing a serious lack of care for the individual involved.

Obviously we can't comment any further on this particular incident as we do not have the full facts as yet, but it has highlighted a very important issue, which should be the golden rule amongst all taxi drivers.

That golden rule is a very simple one, you do not get out of the front of your vehicle and into the back of your taxi whilst in service carrying a customer, unless you can ascertain with a high degree of certainty that they have been genuinely taken ill and need assistance.

In a situation where a customer has passed out due to a non-medical issue inside the vehicle you have but two options, you either drive to the nearest police station, assuming that you are able to find one which is open of course, or failing that, you call both an ambulance and the police.

The safest course of action for all concerned is to let the emergency services deal with the issue, it's what they are trained for. 

Many cabbies, who undoubtedly feel that they are doing the right thing, and acting with good Intent, may enter the back of the taxi to assist a stricken passenger, this however well meaning, can prove to be an extremely serious error of judgement. 

Sadly, in this day and age, good intent can be misinterpreted, leaving the driver potentially open to any given allegation, allied to the fact that if the driver has no medical training, he could potentially be making a very serious situation far worse.

So to re-iterate, the golden rule is the following: Stay in the front of the taxi, alert the emergency services, and wait for their arrival.

Anything else is a charter for disaster.