An elderly woman has missed the opportunity to say goodbye to her beloved husband because of a taxi driver’s failure to pick her up on time.
Kerrin Terry, 72, who is living with Parkinson’s Disease, was all dressed up and waiting for the taxi to pick her up from her Sydney nursing home and take her to the funeral of her husband Brian of 47 years.
However, the taxi driver working for 13cabs made the decision to ‘flash the fare’.
Elderly woman Kerrin Terry (pictured) missed the opportunity to say goodbye to her beloved husband because of a taxi driver’s failure to pick her up
President of the Australian Taxi Association Michael Jools told A Current Affair this is when ‘you accept a fare, you start to head in that direction and you realise it is not a good fare… so you turn the metre on, run it for a few seconds and then turn it off, it shows up in the network system that you have picked up the fare’.
‘I didn’t get there…they took that chance away from me,’ Ms Terry told the program.
‘I had no idea that weren’t going to turn up.’
Ms Terry said she was left waiting and thinking, ‘where in the hell are they?’.
After missing her husband’s funeral, Ms Terry said: ‘I didn’t get there…they took that chance away from me’ (pictured, with her husband Brian)
Her daughter Sarah had arranged a taxi two days prior to the funeral and even confirmed twice with 13cabs the day before.
Jason, Sarah’s husband, said that she ‘received a call two minutes before the pick-up from the driver saying ‘I’m two minutes away so I’ll call on arrival.’
More than half an hour later, Sarah received a call from the nursing home stating that her mum was still there waiting to be picked up.
The cab company told Sarah that the driver had closed the job.
Faced with a difficult dilemma, other family members attempted to delay the ceremony for as long as they could but after almost an hour delay, they were forced to make the devastating call to begin the service without Ms Terry.
As son-in-law Jason got up to say a few words, he said, ‘you are going to have to forgive me a little bit…I’m still livered about 13cabs.’
Faced with a difficult dilemma, other family members attempted to delay the ceremony for as long as they could but after almost an hour delay, they were forced to make the devastating call to begin the service without Ms Terry
Her daughter Sarah said her mum was able to watch the service online, however ‘she was quite distressed’.
During the wake, Sarah received a call from 13cabs.
Her husband Jason said: ‘She got called again to say that your ride is here to be picked up and it’s like, Brian is gone.’
The family wish they were told the truth from the beginning.
‘Just give us the answer, just tell us early on that it’s not going to happen…that it’s going to be hours away,’ Jason said.
‘We might have had time to organise something else.’
In a statement, the taxi company said: ’13cabs is deeply troubled to hear about Ms Terry’s experience and apologises unreservedly.’
In a statement, the taxi company said: ’13cabs is deeply troubled to hear about Ms Terry’s experience and apologises unreservedly’
‘We have investigated the booking made by Ms Terry and it appears that despite every effort being made, including 13cabs offering drivers a significant financial incentive to take the work… no vehicle could be found,’ it added.
‘The driver who contacted Ms Terry has been contacted and will be asked to explain their actions.’
‘I don’t want this to happen again…I think it’s absolutely disgraceful,’ Ms Terry’s daughter Sarah said.
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